Benekids
Every year charity foundation BeneKids chooses a new board made of members of Student Association Comitas (S.A. Comitas)
Board Festen 2021-2022
Chairperson: Ilse Festen
PR Commissioner: Yuval Amram
Events Commissioner: Irene Hogendoorn
Treasurer: Tessa Dijkstra
Brand Developer: Lois Duivenvoorden
Board Bosman 2020-2021
Chairperson: Roan Bosman
PR Commissioner: Hanne Schoenemann
Events Commissioner: Jasmijn Meeuwissen
Treasurer: Alessandro Cau
Brand Developer: Sophie Wassenaar
Board Schaafsma 2019-2020
Chairperson: Timo Schaafsma
PR Commissioner: Priscille Nguyen-Tu
Event Commissioner: Sophia Hoek
Treasurer: Ika Wondergem
Board 2018-2019
PR Commissioner: Pien Gillhaus
Director of Gracias: Jip Hanemaaijer
Treasurer: Babette de Leeuw
Board Scheepbouwer 2017-2018
Chairperson: Spike Scheepbouwer
PR Commissioner: Iris Meijerhof
Events Commissioner: Daniëlle Kotter
Treasurer: Lausanne Bos
Board Reddingius 2016-2017
Chairperson: Maud Reddingius
Secretary: Puck Rozendaal
PR Commissioner: Maaike Vissers
Treasurer: Barth Blankemeijer
Taking over the board of School of Life (now BeneKids) as four fresh individuals was not easy.As all boards do, we set goals for 2017. Our first goal was to make School of Life even more known and appreciated within Hotelschool The Hague. The second was to raise at least an amount of €15.000, -.One year, 60 meetings and five successful events further, we gained so much experience, we have faced ups and downs but have accomplished something beautiful. Not only is School of Life more well-known within the Hotelschool (Amsterdam), we also raised an amount of €25.000, -.We are honoured to give this large amount as a loan to our partner, Hotel con Corazón, for their project with building a new hotel in Mexico. The hotel is expected to be finished in Dec 2019 where after, 75% of their profit will go to the support of education in neighbouring villages.
We would like to thank all the ones who have supported School of Life over the past year. Especially, the teamwork with the Ambassadors, the donations of Student Association Comitas, donations of friends, family and the ones who believe we can provide a better education system in developing countries in cooperation with Hotel con Corazón.
Board Elion 2015-2016
Chairperson: Vivian Elion
Secretary: Lara Stemmerik
PR Commissioner: Paul Brasser
Treasurer: Stephan Poot
In 2015, three fellow students and I founded Charity Foundation School of Life. Derived from an initiative of the board of our student association Comitas, we felt like it was time to give back to the world through education. Our vision for what at that time was merely a concept; to start a charity foundation run by students in order to create equal chances in education for students in third world countries. All driven by high motivation and passion to make this vision come true, we quickly turned the concept into an official charity foundation with the name of School of Life. Immediately, we got great financial support from our friends and fellow students from Comitas. With the energy-boost this support gave us, we organized our first event; a charity dinner including auction and lottery at Duin & Kruidberg. This was a great success and the statement was made; we were pursuing our vision! Within four months, we realized our target of raising 10.000 euros and it was time to professionalize the foundation. We closed down our amazing board year and the first year of School of Life with the first edition of the Craft Beer Festival, which was a great success!
The greatest highlight of our board year was the trip to Nicaragua to visit the first hotel of Hotel con Corazon. We stayed at the beautiful, charismatic hotel for five days and got to know the staff very well. We also had the chance to meet the tutors of the educational program. We were even allowed to help the tutors with classes like English and mathematics. In these five days, we realized that these people are putting their hearts and souls into providing better education for children in need of better guidance. Most importantly, we learned that the money raised by School of Life is in right hands. From these five days, we learned that it is more important to help a community grow and develop into a self-supporting community rather than stopping to support a community after having handed out the money raised. We must help others help themselves! Looking at what School of Life has accomplished in such a short time makes us as founding board proud. Not because of our own achievements, but because everyone involved in School of Life is creating a movement where awareness towards better education a prosperous future is the golden thread. We are certain that in all the years to come, we will all keep working towards realizing the dream of School of Life: to provide every child with education.