Last week, the donation programme for community social initiatives took place during METSTRADE. The METSTRADE is the world's largest exhibition of marine equipment, materials and systems. During our donation programme, exhibitors have the opportunity to donate leftover items, in line with the needs of affiliated social initiatives, to our Donation team. This edition, our team consisted of enthusiastic volunteers from community building Hendrik de Keijser, The Salvation Army, PuurZuid and a team of RAI colleagues. The Donation team collected items on the exhibition floor with shopping trolleys, which then found a new destination in the Amsterdam region.
Social impact
The proceeds were very impressive. PuurZuid an organisation that helps Amsterdam residents with issues such as debt, meeting, health and care brought in lots of soft drinks, food, fresh fruit and vegetables for their organisation to use in their neighbourhood kitchen. They organise various activities such as neighbourhood cooking, where local residents get to know each other by cooking together. In addition, the Salvation Army was able to bring lots of soft drinks, coffee, tea, sugar sachets and other items to their branch in Amsterdam South. The organisation Hendrik de Keijser was also able to take home many items for their community centre such as plants, soft drinks and food. By organising activities, the goal of this organisation is being a facility for everyone in the region in an accessible way.
Donation Room RAI Amsterdam
The Donation Room programme is an initiative of RAI which is organised to prevent waste and help local initiatives get useful products. The next donation programmes will take place during the Horecava in January 2023 and during the Negenmaandenbeurs and Huishoudbeurs in February 2023.