Fire pit and hot chocolate add Christmas atmosphere at drive-thru Vonderhof
De Jonge: "Because of the new measures, most of the activities of Samen voor Eindhoven have been canceled. But right now it is important to think about vulnerable people. Philips has been a committed partner of Samen voor Eindhoven for years. Philips employees are allowed to dedicate one day a year, during working hours, to local charities.
Actually, this month 250 employees were supposed to do fun things with the elderly from residential care centers, go for a walk together or eat cake at the Bijenkorf. Connection is what Samen voor Eindhoven is all about. ,,We bring business, social organizations and local government together. This enables us to carry out activities such as Care & Share for Christmas. This is what Samen voor Eindhoven is organizing for Philips employees for the third year in a row."
However, due to the lockdown, this activity too would fall by the wayside. To avoid that, we came up with a creative solution. Instead of activities with the residents, Philips employees now brought small gifts such as cookies and Christmas cards via a drive-thru. These were then delivered to various residential care centers by Samen voor Eindhoven so that it could be distributed among the residents.
I was so sorry it couldn't continue, so I donated cookies, Christmas decorations and cards today
Also present were children of staff who already have Christmas vacation. They brought homemade crafts and wrote Christmas cards. The cards were given to the residents on the spot. It put smiles on the faces of the residents.
Mrs. Mansvelders has been living in Vonderhof for several months. "That something like this is being organized for us, that's great. It just makes you smile away." De Jonge: " And for that smile we do it. We don't say vitamin A stands for the A of attention for nothing."
