Royal visit for KPN Mooiste Contact Fonds and Oranje Fonds

Today, Her Majesty Queen Máxima visited the project Ondernemen tegen Eenzaamheid [Entrepreneurs against Loneliness], run jointly by the KPN Mooiste Contact Fonds and the Oranje Fonds Foundation. She talked with representatives of the two funds and with four social entrepreneurs who are taking action against loneliness with the support of the project.

The Queen had conversations with the founders of Refugee Team, which uses its “Video Friends” project to bring refugees and volunteers in contact digitally to enlarge the social network of newcomers. She also talked with the founders of Mommy Friends, Mantelzorgelijk and Thuisgekookt. Mommy Friends has set up a national online friendship platform to combat loneliness among mothers. Mantelzorgelijk offers informal caregivers information, advice and contact with people in a similar position via an online community. And Thuisgekookt connects home cooks with vulnerable neighbors who, for a variety of reasons, are unable to cook for themselves. Participants then get not only a hot meal but also social contacts.

As well as these four projects, since 2021 another fourteen social entrepreneurs have received support in their mission to combat loneliness. And that is desperately needed, confirms Bartho Boer, Chair of the KPN Mooiste Contact Fonds: “Two out of five adults sometimes feel lonely. The effects of that are underestimated. The initiatives of these special entrepreneurs help in tackling loneliness. It was great to see them get recognition from the royal family for their unstinting dedication and personal commitment.”

Entrepreneurs against Loneliness
With the project Ondernemen tegen Eenzaamheid the KPN Mooiste Contact Fonds and the Oranje Fonds are able to help strengthen the participating organizations and scale them up. For three years, the participants will get assistance in the form of training courses, meetings and networking, visibility and funding. Dozens of KPN employees support the entrepreneurs, as a coach or by giving workshops for example. The participants are organizations that operate both locally and nationwide and that all use digital means to combat loneliness.

About the Oranje Fonds and the KPN Mooiste Contact Fonds
Both the KPN Mooiste Contact Fonds and the Oranje Fonds have for years been committed to a society in which everyone has social contact. The past fifteen years, the KPN Mooiste Contact Fonds has been connecting people who feel cut off from the world around them, and thanks to numerous initiatives the fund has already reached many tens of thousands of people. The Oranje Fonds is the largest national fund in the social domain and supports some 10,000 projects in the Netherlands each year.