Press release

Brussels, 17 March 2012 On Saturday 17 March, around 90 Serve the City volunteers made a SPLASH on the streets of Brussels.  There were 24 projects delivered to a growing community of people needing practical help. Serve the City champions a number of different types of project – such as tending gardens and hosting a St. Patrick’s day party at homes for the elderly, playing games with children and their families who are asylum seekers, preparing and distributing food to our homeless friends at the three main railway stations in Brussels. The day kicked off with volunteer registration where short presentations were made about the work done by Serve the City and our partners. This helps people know how their efforts make a big difference. The SPLASH theme is in support of the African Enterprise projects in Malawi. We take fresh water for granted in our advanced economy and yet over a billion people continue to fight for this basic need. The team from Serve the City will give 1,000 euro to a community in the suburbs of Malawi for a shallow well, which will save them going 4-5 km to find water. The money for this project came from a Disco on 9 March, pub quiz on 15 March, together with donations and money received from the sale of baked goods at the SPLASH registration location. Chiefs in Malawi reported that having access to clean water in their communities enables the teenage girls to go to school, cuts down cases of cholera deaths (in several places where Serve the City has already assisted it has now been totally eradicated) and cuts the levels of malaria, diarrhea, dysentery and other water-based diseases. Having a healthy community means fields can be tended properly and the crop yield increases, enabling some to even sell produce. All in all the first step out of the poverty cycle! The community has been visited as part of a number of other well projects that have taken place in the past. For more information, please do contact: chalks.corriette@me.com 0478.482023   About us: Serve the City began in Brussels in 2005, and is now active in 80 cities around the world. Serve the City organizes serving events and provides ongoing serving opportunities. Volunteers sign up to serve in projects that fit their interests and abilities. https://www.servethecity.brussels/