Volunteers still quite active in Wallonia: “More useful than Christmas shopping”

During the summer, tens of thousands of volunteers joined the Red Cross and other organizations to help in Wallonia. Solidarity in Belgium is still great. There are still dozens of volunteer initiatives on Facebook and people are flocking to the affected area every week.

The 1000hands foundation is one of the organizations active in the region. “The idea was to rebuild an entire village with 500 volunteers, 1000 hands, in one day, but it was a little too optimistic”, explains Guy van Nieuwenhuysen, member of the board of directors of the association. The foundation was created in September with the aim of providing post-crisis assistance for the reconstruction of affected villages.

Help from all angles

For example, the municipality of Turnhout and 3 surrounding municipalities sent their technical staff to the Walloon village of Prayon via the foundation. Businesses from Turnhout and the surrounding area were also contacted. Prayon is grateful for the help. For example, a park has been re-sown and a sports hall has been rebuilt, where it will be possible to shower and cook in the future. “It should really become a community center for people who still live on the first floor of their house,” says Van Nieuwenhuysen. of the 4 Flemish municipalities. But due to the important work that remains to be done, the foundation is now also active in Chênée.