A neighbourhood market in the Kinkerbuurt faces an uncertain future as the municipality ends neighbourhood budgets in their current form.
Co-organiser Tom van der Velpen wrote in a letter that he has run a chess tournament and market on Nicolaas Beetsplantsoen as a volunteer for four years.
The event has 55 stalls, mostly staffed by local residents, and brings hundreds of neighbours together every year.
He earns nothing from it, but organising it does cost money.
Uncertainty over funding
In recent years he has drawn on West Begroot and the municipality’s neighbourhood fund, as have hundreds of other residents’ initiatives across the city.
Nobody can yet say whether replacement budgets will come, not even the professionals who support such initiatives, he writes.
A call for clarity
Van der Velpen points out that a market takes months of preparation, and that volunteers cannot keep investing time without knowing whether their plans can go ahead.
He asks the city for timely communication, clear transition arrangements and a contact person who can actually help volunteers.
If his story has you thinking about helping out in your own neighbourhood, here is how to get involved as a volunteer.