The Voluntour guides you towards volunteer work!

On Saturday 25th of May a group of 19 internationals walked the Voluntour. Simone Timmer from Vrijwilligers Centrale Amsterdam and Yulia Bachvarova from Dakterras Art Productions (and more) showed them a few hidden volunteer opportunies in the city centre.

From Central Station to the Old Church

• We started at the Ruijtergaard, a green strip along the Ruijterkade where residents and volunteers can meet each other.
• Then we walked to Central Station where we met two volunteers of the Welkom Team. They give inside information about Amsterdam to tourists.
• Next stop: the beautiful rooftop from an appartment building on the Prins Hendrikkade. In the summer, Dakterras Art Productions organizes five evening concerts on that rooftop.
• Next to this place: The Basilica of St. Nicholas, a unique place of silence. To preserve this peaceful atmosphere they need your help as a hostess or host.
• We proceed our tour to the Major Bosshardthuis in the Oude Armsteeg. It is named after its most famous resident: Major Alida Bosshardt of the Salvation Army. If you want to be a volunteer here, you can welcome visitors.
• Next stop: a small community-center in the St Jansstraat called Treasure House. Here, in the middle of the old center of the city, people come together to talk, eat, laugh or just sit a while with others.
• We walk back to the Old Church, in the middle of the historic city centre, is a place for contemporary art and Amsterdam’s oldest building.
• There is also a Protestant Community that meets in this church.
• We finish the tour at the neighborhood livingroom on te Oudekerksplein where We Live Here and Bewonersorganisatie Wallenbuurt do their activities for tourists and residents.

From Waterlooplein to Oudezijds Achterburgwal

On April 24th we offered another tour in the other side of the city centre.

• We started at KunstRuim, a platform for and by professional visual artists, at the Jodenbreestraat. You can help with changing the expositions for example.
• Next stop: Museum Rembrandthuis is a museum located in a former house in the Jodenbreestraat, in the center of Amsterdam. As a volunteer you can be a host in the Rembrandthuis
• St Perdu is a literary foundation specialized in poetry and the crossovers between literature and other art forms at Kloveniersburgwal 86. As a volunteer you can help at the bar.
• In the St Anthoniebreestraat is the lovely Huis the Pinto, a cultural and literary meeting center. As a volunteer you can help with events in the evenings and weekend and during the day you can welcome visitors and help with the library.
• The Flesseman on the Nieuwmarkt is a residential care center. For English speaking people they have a vacancy for volunteers who have a dog: Animal Lovers With a Heart of Gold
• In the communiy center de Boomsspijker on the Recht Boomssloot you can help with various activities during the week.
• At the Waag Futurelab you can help at many activities like exhibitions, Open Fablab, lectures, conferences and more.
• Oudezijds 100 offers concrete help through walk-in, assisted living, general social work, training and various activities. The residential community functions as a large family and training school that supports emergency services.
• Clean Up Your City is a local initiative in the center of Amsterdam, set up by local residents with the aim of making our city cleaner and more sustainable.

Are you looking for more opportunies?

Look here for all the vacancies for English speaking volunteers.

The Voluntour was organized by Vrijwilligers Centrale Amsterdam, Fonds voor Centrum and various neighborhood organzations.

Photography: Marcel Jamsen, VCA Media