ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN--King Willem-Alexander, Queen Máxima and members of the royal family took part last week Friday and Saturday in the NLDoet of the Oranje Fonds (Orange Fund), the biggest volunteer event of the Netherlands, which also takes place in the Dutch Caribbean.
The King and Queen helped out at a playground and community centre in Alphen aan den Rijn on Saturday. The King assisted with the distribution of new sand for the sand box, while the Queen cleaned the playground equipment with a high pressure cleaner. The King and Queen are patrons of the Oranje Fonds.
Princess Beatrix, Prince Constantijn, Prince Floris and Princess Aimée assisted at the Princess Máxima horse riding school in Den Dolder on Friday morning. This horse riding school also serves as an equestrian therapeutic centre for disabled people. The royal family helped with the paint and carpentry jobs, as well as clearing the trails, while several disabled persons were taken on a ride with a wagon.
Princess Margriet and Prof. Pieter van Vollenhoven took to the Fire Department and Storm Disasters Museum in Borculo where they and other volunteers polished the fire trucks and prepared the museum for a new season. Prince Pieter-Christiaan and Princess Anita prepared an early Easter lunch for the elderly in the Red Cross store in The Hague.
NLDoet took place for the 12th time during which 9,226 projects were cleared in which some 350,000 volunteers participated. Similar volunteer actions took place in Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, St. Maarten and St. Eustatius under the names ARUBA Doet, BONDoet, CURADoet, SXMDoet and StatiaDoet.
