Last March, Vanbreda Risk & Benefits B.V. participated with 12 colleagues in the 12-hour Challenge. Divided into four teams, the colleagues took on the challenge of skiing or snowboarding for 12 hours in a relay race.
Coen van Ham (general manager) talks about his experience:
"With our participation we helped a young lady (Lies Kroeze) to be able to snowboard again after her leg amputation and at the same time we gave a very concrete impulse to the social commitment of our employees and our company. This has inspired us enormously and we have really started to look differently at people with disabilities."
The company supported the employees' initiative by paying for the starting licenses and accommodations. Travel there and food and beverages were at their own expense. The crowdfunding associated with the event rested entirely with the employees.
Coen van Ham (general manager): "What I found very important is that the colleagues themselves were responsible for their crowdfunding. Each participant had to raise at least EUR 500 for charity and the teams were responsible for this themselves. It was great to see what great ideas the colleagues came up with. There were even colleagues who did not go skiing, but helped with the crowdfunding. As a matter of course, a team feeling was created even before departure and it only got stronger during the trip."
Margreet van Heest, participant in the 12-hour Challenge: "When we presented the idea for participation to all our colleagues, we invited Lies to share her story. That was so inspiring and immediately made it clear, for whom we are taking action. Lies had to undergo a leg amputation as a result of bone cancer. Despite all the setbacks, she wanted to look forward and be able to snowboard again. And with our support, she succeeded during the Mentelity Games: with her leg prosthesis and the right guidance, Lies learned to snowboard again. Great to make this possible and be able to follow closely."
Lies Kroeze, Mentelity Games participant:
"Before my amputation, I went on winter sports every year, ever since I was 4 years old. I really missed the feeling of freedom I always experienced when snowboarding. I wanted to be able to board again and feel the wind through my hair. Thanks to the Mentelity Games, I was able to experience this feeling again. I could only cry with happiness after my first downhill run, I felt so much freedom! I also learned to be patient. I never think anything is good enough and everything can be better, that's the way I am. At the Mentelity Games I got back that I am already doing really well and that I need to be patient to be able to snowboard like I used to."
