Transport clothing donations and/or organise donations (own car required)

Short rides in or around Leeuwarden twice a month, and – if there’s interest – organising the donations. We’re also absolutely delighted just to go for a ride.

At Het Gele Laarsje, together with residents from Leeuwarden and the surrounding area, we do our best to keep children’s clothes in circulation locally for as long as possible. A counter-narrative to the current clothing industry.

We are a residents’ initiative made up of volunteers aged between 17 and 65.

Once a month, on a Monday evening, we organise a children’s clothes swap at NHL Stenden. We open our doors at 6.30 pm and tidy up again at 8.00 pm. Parents and grandparents can drop off clothes that no longer fit their children or grandchildren and take away larger sizes or different types of clothing. Visitors can also make use of the free repair service – again, to extend the life of their clothes.

Various primary schools and childcare centres in and around Leeuwarden enjoy collecting lovely children’s clothes from people who are unable or unwilling to swap items with us. For example, their children may already be too big, or they may feel that second-hand clothes are still a step too far. We rely on a steady supply of clothing, particularly in sizes 128 and 134, to keep our organisation running, so we can really put these donations to good use. We also hope that raising awareness about donating will encourage people to give swapping a go.

We are currently looking for someone who can make trips to and from schools in the local area to collect clothing donations or deliver a clothing donation box. You will need your own car for this, with either a large boot or a rear seat that folds flat.

If you’d like, you can also organise the donations yourself – which means getting in touch with venues and arranging when and for how long the donation box will be there. This is by no means a requirement, but you’re welcome to do so if you’d like.

We also have a website www.hetgelelaarsje.nl and an Instagram account @hetgelelaarsje.

Other volunteer roles we also have:

Building up
Clothing repairs and/or embroidery
Taking photographs of clothing and (with permission) visitors
Coordination
Social media management
Blogger
PR
Keeping the area tidy and helping visitors 
Choosing what to wear (for the truly strict fashion police amongst us)
Welcoming people and handling payments (as it can get busy, it helps to be able to cope well under pressure)
We’d also be absolutely delighted to have someone who could whip up a healthy, tasty meal for the volunteers who start setting up as early as 5.00 pm.

We are a residents’ initiative and therefore receive little or no funding. So you should mainly do this because you want to support this cause, and/or because you’d like to work hard on it alongside an enthusiastic team.

We haven’t found a volunteer to do the cooking yet, but there’s often a volunteer who offers to cook something, in which case we’ll all eat together on swap day at 5.30 pm. If you’d like, you’re welcome to join us.

There’s free coffee and tea, so it’s a good idea to bring your own cup, as NHL Stenden has a ‘bring-your-own-cup’ policy!

You’d drive back and forth about twice a month to move the donation box and collect clothing donations. You’ll need to arrange a convenient time with the venue yourself. This is almost always during the day on a weekday, as the venues are only open then. You’ll use your own car for this – the donation box is quite large, so you’ll need to fold down the back seat. So you’ll be doing some lifting now and then. We don’t have the funds to reimburse our volunteers, not even for petrol. They’re only short journeys, but still. It’s good to be aware of that. You’re volunteering your time, but also some fuel.

If you’d like, you can also organise the donations yourself – which means getting in touch with venues and arranging when and for how long the donation box will be there. This is by no means a requirement, but you’re welcome to do so if you’d like.