Humanitas Zeeland’s Fresh Air Campaign (FAC) is already familiar to the Family Fund. Last year, they provided several dozen Rotterdam children once more with a wonderful holiday week with a Zeeuws foster family. Literally and figuratively fresh air for these urban children. An impression from Rob de Vos, coordinator of the FAC team:
“May and June are the months when Fresh Air Campaign demands a lot of attention. That is when it all comes together how many foster families and children participate in the holiday week. We would like to offer between 30 and 45 children a decent holiday. The easiest cases are those requested by parents and children alike, to return to the foster family previously visited. In 2023, that was about 50 per cent.
Getting a good idea of newly registered children and foster families is thankfully real people’s work. Both in Rotterdam and Zeeland, appointments are then made to get acquainted. And every year we find out that not asking a certain question sometimes works out well and sometimes not so well in ‘matching’ children to foster families. A lot is then asked of the coordination team.
Then it’s Saturday, pick-up day, by bus (empty) to Rotterdam. Meeting familiar children and parents/carers but also new children/foster families. There you notice a distinctly different tension. To the meeting place Lewedorp (Zeeland). Feelings of meeting familiar families and who is my foster family alternate. And then the children are on their way. A week later, after seeing each other again on the return day, the farewell follows.
This year, Omroep Zeeland was at the farewell, but previous reports are also worthwhile. Three reports clearly show the impact of Fresh Air Campaign.
Omroep Zeeland covered the campaign several times (in Dutch):
- Why we organise the children’s holiday;
- What it means to be foster families;
- and said goodbye after a successful week;
In conclusion
We ourselves have no foster children during the holiday week. My motivation to continue organising the Fresh Air Campaign is therefore entirely derived from fetching and bringing the children from Rotterdam. The feeling of ‘it was a great holiday’ on the children’s return journey. Every time, the children give this week an excellent rating. Foster families a 9 and the week a fat 8.5.”
The Hurgronje Family Fund once again made a financial contribution to this project in 2023.
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