Eighty volunteers and money for Move Foundation thanks to Eurekaweek

2445 euros and one cent, that is how much the Eurekaweek raised for the Move Foundation, the chosen charity for 2023. And that’s not the only thing Eurekaweek yielded for Move: eighty students signed up to volunteer.

“Fantastic”, says Annemiek Slingerland of the Move Foundation, which pairs students with primary school children who have fewer opportunities than their peers. “Fantastic that we’ve been chosen as the Eurekaweek charity, and the money raised is an extra motivator for us. A special moment for me was all the phone lights that were ‘lit’ in Ahoy for Move.”

‘Move your neighbourhood’ is Move’s longest running project in Rotterdam, now running nearly 15 years. The project pairs a student with pupils from a primary school. The children have to come up with an idea: a dinner show for the elderly, graffiti art in the neighbourhood, whatever they like. “Children dream big, and the students try to make their idea possible”, Slingerland says. “They do the project together. The students also take their group to Erasmus University Rotterdam or Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences for a tour.

In addition, ‘Move Maatje’ was launched a few years ago, which is a one-on-one project. “In this project, we pair a student with a year 8 pupil, someone who lacks the home support needed for a smooth transition to secondary school. The student then discusses whether the pupil has thought about secondary school yet and explains what to expect.”

Tikkie for Move

Each year, the Eurekaweek charity gets the opportunity to talk about what they do at different introduction week events. This year, Move was present at the opening ceremony, at the lunch on Monday afternoon and at the campus fair. When they enrolled for the introduction week, students were given the option to also make a donation, and the opening in Ahoy featured a large screen to enable the audience to donate money using Tikkie.