Blog
13 October 2017
I am not a famous rock star. I do not have a lot of political power. I am just me. I do my best to treat others right. I try to be the best human I can possibly be. I am grateful for my life and the chances that I have received so far. There is nothing that I regret. My life was not always easy, I admit, but when I had to rely on support, there was always an invisible power at work to bring me what I needed most in that moment. Whenever I can, I also engage myself to make a difference in the lives of others.
Supporting others does not need to be complicated or overwhelming. The recipe for successful support can be very simple: be there at the right time and at the right moment. I believe that people sense it when you have a gentle and open heart. It is the key to make people trust you and bond with you. I feel that we are not alone in this world and that it is our task to help each other. My parents raised me with wonderful values and in my own way, I do my utmost best to give these values to everyone that crosses my path.
In my eyes, you will see the reflection of justice and gentleness. We have enough food and clothes to feed and dress everyone, we only must ensure that everything gets there where it is wanted most. I believe in justice and gentleness. Justice means to me that we have to use our personal power to allocate resources wisely and efficiently. With gentleness, I love to refer to the process of doing everything with a human approach. Every one of us remains human, in whatever circumstances we live, rich or poor, our heart continues to beat in the same way.
Every group of people that engages in the values of justice and gentleness with a human approach gets my full recognition. I am following the same journey in life. The time is right to change our thinking: we really can transform our lives by following a new way of supporting each other in this life. Every time when we act with efficiency, reliability and straightforwardness, we show how much we really care. Words do not mean a thing when we do not tie these to support actions. True support from the heart is reflected in our gentle actions. Let us move mountains together. With a human touch.
04 October 2017
I love living and working in London. This city has a special vibe in the air. This morning I took some time out and I was drinking a cup of tea. I watched the people in the street. They were so busy, all running and rushing. The buses were loud. The taxi drivers had no patience. The men and women in the street were all going somewhere. I wondered what they were thinking. Most of them looked so serious. They were well dressed, like true gentlemen and true ladies. The only person that was slowing down, was an old man in the street.
He was not dressed up and seemed rather poor. It was strange to see these two opposites. For some reason, it caught my eye. The old man went to a bench. His dog kept him company. The dog was still young and very playful. The old man caressed him. He was very loving. It seemed that he was begging for money. The people that saw him, did not really care. They were afraid. The old man was different. He had no watch. The time stood still. He had no busy agenda. No agenda at all.
I decided to go outside and to have a word with him. I asked him if it was fine that I took a seat next to him. He said nothing but I figured out that that was his way of agreeing. He accepted my presence. Suddenly we were in a deep conversation. He told me how he loved London so much. A wonderful city, so many people and so many things to do. He was always in a rush like everyone in London is and worked very hard until he lost his wife. He went into a depression and got fired.
I felt bad for him. The old man changed the way I look at things. He said that he had learned to slow down and that that is the best way to see the beauty in life. In that precious moment, I made the commitment to support people in need. I remembered that charity organisation that comes at your door to collect unwanted clothes and shoes. I will give them a call this afternoon. I will probably continue to run and rush but I want to make a difference. It only takes 5 minutes of my time to give something back to these people. They are so worth it.
11 September 2017
What do you think about our ‘welfie’? Yes, you read it right. It is not a ‘selfie’. We build one young and dynamic team. With our ‘welfie’ we want to introduce our iCollectClothes team to you. We are four different characters but we have one thing in common: we believe that the time is right for a new way of supporting charities. We trust that true power lies in simplicity. Why making things difficult? Let us create magnificence by being efficient, reliable and straightforward. We want to make a difference in people’s lives.
We are aware of the fact that every family has a lot to manage on a daily basis. Parents have the obligation to pay the bills and to go to their work. They also need to take care of their children. Fathers and mothers bring their children to school. The children need attention and love. A day has only 24 hours. As a team, we continue to brainstorm how we can align our clothing donation service to the needs of modern families. We want to make life easier for you: lightness in terms of administration, collection and donation.
To be able to transform something that is ‘unwanted’ into something ‘supportive’ makes us really happy. That is why we remain motivated every day to do this beneficial work. Our team experiences lots of joy. A day at work does not really feel like working because we can add meaning to the world around us. We feel blessed that we can contribute to the well-being of others. Today we live in a society where a lot of objects receive the label ‘unwanted’. We see these objects as ‘opportunities’ to help others.
Our transformational activities rebalance available resources. We feel that we really have accomplished something when we have given our energy to these activities. Not everyone is lucky enough that their needs are met. The good news is that everything is already present in this world. We just need to bring these ‘unwanted’ objects to the right people. We can look at reality in two ways. We can choose to focus on the big gap between abundance and scarcity. This feels bad. We can also decide to see the opportunities to do something good. This creates a positive feeling. We are grateful that our team sees the blessings.