Ronnie te Boekhorst

Project Manager and Foundation Ambassador 

My experience as an ambassador of the Foundation for Families

When, in 2021, the Foundation set up a network of employee ambassadors, the project manager first contacted my operational manager to find a volunteer at Center Parcs in the Netherlands and as I was very enthusiastic about taking part in this project, I finally took on the role!

What is my mission?

Leading the entire process of selecting associations: at the call for projects stage, I mobilized employees through our internal newsletter and presented the program to all our Center Parcs site managers in the Netherlands. Then I worked with the Foundation to analyze the submissions of the associations that applied, according to specific criteria, and came up with a short list of three associations. After that, I mobilized the employees to vote and choose the association that would be supported.

The one they selected helps families whose children are suffering from a rare disease. Our contribution consists of offering stays in our Center Parcs villages to allow these families to take a break and share their experiences. My role is to work with the villages to make these stays possible and even to bring the service providers on board, by convincing them to offer a dinner, for example.

Basically, it’s a collective adventure: everyone is an ambassador! This experience brought me a lot. It changed the way I look at the world and developed my organizational and influencing skills (I have to convince and involve everyone!). It has also taught me to manage the expectations of each and every one, to confront the disappointment of the associations because unfortunately we can’t support all of them.

To me, “getting back to basics” means… ?

Going to work every morning with a smile. Bringing joy is what our job is all about. But what we do for these families in difficulty is very strong, it is a light in their lives and that is where we shine.