On Monday, 116 boys from Chiro Heist-Centrum will move into the Strohoeve. That is Willy Naessens’ stud farm. The chiro was at camp in Tenneville, but due to the bad weather, the youth movement now has to swerve.
Peter Malaise
Saturday 17 July 2021 at 11:55
“The bad weather, these are inhumane conditions,” says Willy Naessens. “Many people have been hit hard, youth movements are also literally seeing their camp fall into the water. I’ve asked Kelly, our Head of Marketing, to get in touch with the Boerenbond. We have a large horse stud here and it can be used by youth groups.”
Last year youth associations got into trouble because of corona, this year because of the bad weather. And so Naessens felt called to step into the breach. “We placed an appeal in three Facebook groups, and there was an immediate response. There is clearly a need for many new camp sites for many youth movements. Chiro Heist-Centrum from Heist-op-den-Berg was the first group to contact us and they will come on Saturday (today, ed.) already with the leadership. They are going to pitch their tents on the lawn next to the stud farm. The stud itself has new showers and toilets, the cooking crew will move inside. On Monday 116 boys will come, on July 28 they will be relieved by the girls. They will stay until August 7.
Plenty of room to set up camp at the Strohoeve — © Peter Malaise
“Our camp in Tenneville in the province of Luxembourg has been flooded,” says Lorenz Van Aerde of Chiro Heist-Centrum. “The former leadership is going to break up the tents that we had to leave on Saturday. We are now busy preparing the new camp in Wortegem-Petegem. Everything went quickly, we are going to set up the tents today and see what we can do with activities. We are very grateful to Willy for what we can turn to him.”
“They shouldn’t build a swimming pool with straw bales”, says Willy’s wife Marie-Jeanne. “They can use the horse pool.”
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