Thank you, participants of the Dutch Postcode Lottery!
In a pre-pandemic world, the Dutch Postcode Lottery would announce its yearly donations during a festive occasion. This year everything is slightly different, but that does not make the donation of 500,000 euros which we have been awarded for another year, any less valued.
“I have a package for you,” said the receptionist of our office building on the phone. It wasn’t until a few days later, when a colleague arrived at the office, that ‘package’ turned out to be quite an understatement; it was a cheque for 500,000 euros, with which the Dutch Postcode Lottery and its participants once again support Fairfood’s work for the coming year.
Such cheques are usually granted at an appropriate ceremony called the Goed Geld Gala, or the “Good Money Gala”. This year everything is slightly different, said Dorine Manson, managing director at the Goede Doelen Loterijen, in a video message that reached us by email. “Social problems, which you have often been dealing with for years, were magnified further,” says Manson. “In the first phase we saw a strong focus on the Netherlands, locally, and to a lesser extent on international solidarity.”
That is why it is all the better that Fairfood receives this donation of 500,000 euros. Because indeed, we also saw the problems we have been working to solve since 2000 being magnified under COVID-19. Inequality is on the rise, and many people in food supply chains who were already in a vulnerable position, were pushed over the edge into poverty in the past year.
We must do something about that. At Fairfood, we are cautiously optimistic, and committed to make sure that what we saw last year was the absolute rock bottom. We see renewed attention for social and ecological sustainability. For inequality and for the fact that many of the processes running our society simply aren’t working. We hear the call to build back better getting louder every day.
The donation from the Postcode Lottery will help us convert this call into practical actions. It allows us to keep tackling and rebuilding entire food chains; we make consumers aware of the problem, help companies make a positive impact, and ensure that the voices of farmers and food workers are heard. We are working to democratise the food system, so that one day we only have fair food on our plates. May this become the new normal that we are all talking about so much.
That, to us, seems a good destination for the participants’ money from the Postcode Lottery. Thank you, participants!
