What once began as an improvised festive meal for the less fortunate has now grown into a major event with nearly two thousand people enjoying a five-course dinner: Grand Diner voor de Medemens (grand dinner for the fellow man) organised by Stichting (Z)onder Dak (foundation for the homeless). This year, founder Hugo van Rooij is pulling out all the stops with, among other things, a PSV table and a wishing mirror for children.
The overwhelmingly positive response to his first initiative encouraged Van Rooij to keep going and expand. After all, there are plenty of people in Eindhoven who could use a little extra help. Twelve foundations are now involved in selecting people to be invited to Hugo’s Christmas dinner; they go through their own contact lists by hand to do so. This year, 1,800 invitations will be sent out.
Extra
But Hugo doesn’t want to disappoint people who are not nominated by a foundation either. He simply doesn’t like saying ‘no’. That’s why he has organised even more around the dinner. There is a cart with free fries, cinema vouchers that allow people to go to the movies for free, and a grand New Year’s Eve concert at the end of December. “In total, I want to give three thousand people a little something extra for the holidays”.
The Christmas dinner itself is also becoming more spectacular every year. “Fourteen artists will be performing, including Leen Zijlmans, Johnny Rosenberg, and troubadour Luc Vaessen, who has a special surprise in store for the city”, Hugo says with a mysterious smile. “Another new feature this year is the PSV table. All guests seated at that select table will be able to attend PSV matches for free and have a chance to win an autographed ball and shirt. We won’t know which table is the lucky one until the event, when a ticket will be drawn on stage”.
€80 Barbie
Even more important is the extra attention for children, which Van Rooij has been working on for months. This comes in the form of a wishing mirror. “Children who stand in front of that mirror can go to our toy store with two Disney princesses. There they can choose something. Thanks to our sponsors, there are Barbies worth €80 in that store”, Van Rooij says.
“Then they can make a wish, for themselves or for someone else. The princesses will then make sure that wish comes true”. Hugo has set aside a budget of €3,000 for this. Laughing, he says, “So as long as they don’t order a new car for dad, it should be fine…”
Click here for more information.
Source: Studio040/Pleun Wolters
Translated by: Bob
