What is it like to be a Stichting Wildlife volunteer?
Ahead of Stichting Wildlife's Benefit Day at Eindhoven Zoo Mierlo, it's time to sit down with volunteer Jan Ben. What makes it so great that he has been a volunteer with Stichting Wildlife for so long? And what does he get up to?
Stichting Wildlife is a foundation that, including Eindhoven Zoo, is committed to several nature and species conservation causes. Through educational activities and beautiful initiatives, such as the Benefit Day, they raise money for these causes: this year the cheetah is the focus.
For almost ten years Jan Ben can be found weekly in Eindhoven Zoo as a volunteer of Stichting Wildlife. "My girlfriend thought it was time for me to do something useful again" says Jan Ben laughing. "But I like rolling up my sleeves though" he continues. Jan Ben is no stranger to volunteering - since childhood he has been busy with it. "When I was growing up in Amsterdam I regularly went with the milkman on the wagon to Diemen to take care of the horses, that's where it all started. I also volunteered at scouting and soccer. Teaching children something I enjoy enormously!"
Jan Ben's interests are therefore broad, but he derives enormous satisfaction from sharing his knowledge with Eindhoven Zoo's visitors. He gained this knowledge during his education through Stichting Wildlife but also by watching nature documentaries. "Fantastic to teach the visitors something! Nowadays everyone just looks up all kinds of information in phone calls, but it's much more fun to convey it in Eindhoven Zoo to the really interested visitors." But that's not the only thing that makes Jan Ben happy. "The atmosphere among the volunteers is very nice. We like to help each other and learn a lot from each other."
Jan Ben continues: "I am busy a lot for the foundation yes, haha. The Eindhoven Zoo employees often say 'Are you here again?'. Just now too. And then I haven't even been here five minutes and am already chatting with visitors."
When asked what he is mostly involved in, Jan Ben says: "I take care, every day I am here, with another volunteer, of the 'Hey are you coming', a walk in which we tell visitors more about the species, what they eat and how the animals stay busy through enrichment. I keep the education box clean and I like to grab it for the visitors, they find it incredibly interesting! Recently there were some visually impaired visitors and of course it is very nice that they can learn about the animals by touching things! Furthermore, I am also busy filling the stork eggs of the stork left at Speelrijk - then I go and collect the eggs from colleagues in Beekse Bergen and once at home I sit in the garden or at the dining room table and while enjoying a cup of tea or a drink, I fill the eggs with nice presents. Over the years, I've filled at least 13,000 eggs! But that's not very special mind you..." Visitors can put a two-euro coin in the stork and an egg with a surprise will fall out. All proceeds go to Stichting Wildlife!
Currently, Jan Ben and five other dedicated volunteers are busy preparing for Benefit Day. The activities have been arranged, the planning is complete and the volunteers know what to do. "We are very grateful to Eindhoven Zoo for allowing us to organize this day and thereby raise money for charity! This year we have been offered admission tickets that we can raffle off at the wheel of fortune. But there are even more activities: it is possible to take a look behind the scenes at some animal species and there are more games! We deliberately keep the prices low so that visitors can participate and children always have prizes." said Jan Ben.
Jan Ben concludes, "One more thing though, because I like to tell about the foundation... Actually, it's all the volunteers who should be put in the limelight hear! Each volunteer puts in a different, and equally important way, for Stichting Wildlife."
The Benefit Day is Sunday, Sept. 10, all day at Eindhoven Zoo.
Want to know more about the work of a volunteer? If so, don't hesitate to speak to a volunteer.
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