In presence of Mr Daniel Endres, Deputy High Commissioner of UNHCR and Director External Relations UNHCR, AMADE Nederland organized a beautiful charity gala evening in Het Noordbrababants Museum in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, on Saturday the 12^th of November 2016, for the third consecutive time after the successful events in the Rijksmuseum in 2014 and in the Mauritshuis in 2015.

A few years ago AMADE Nederland has made commitment to join the worldwide campaign of UNHCR ‘Time to Act’, in support of the Syrian refugee children, with the aim of preventing a lost generation and breaking the barriers of access to education and health care. The gala event in Het Noordbrabants Museum was dedicated thereto and with great success.

Upon arrival of the honouree guests, reception took place at the ‘Centrale As’ of the museum. Mr Mark Vogt, Regional Manager Europe PSP at UNCHR, joined his colleague Mr Daniel Endres. Present were amongst guests real estate developers and investors, internationally recognized artists and entrepreneurs. AMADE was happy to welcome some reporters who honestly showed interest in AMADE as appeared from the articles they published afterwards.

After the cocktail the guests visited the impressive exhibition of Claire Morgan, ‘The Sound of Silence’. Once the guests were welcomed in the historical hall of the museum, a delightful dinner was served  by Maison Van den Boer in a magical atmosphere, enlivened by baritone Ernst Daniel Smid and his musicians. During dinner true serious matters were presented.

The speech by the President of AMADE Nederland, Mr Aldo Verbruggen, was inspiring, emphasizing the urge to act and to continue to act, supporting the vulnerable child refugees and making the attendants aware of the responsibility of all people in the free world. Caring for these children can make a difference; it might be a small drop, but small drops all together will ultimately result into an ocean.

Mr Daniel Endres explained the role of UNHCR in the terrible Syrian conflict, the refugee children can do nothing about and pointed out the on going difficulties UNHCR is facing every day again and again, at the same time stating, how much private initiatives to support UNHCR in fulfilling its tasks and obligations, are being very very much appreciated.

The gala event ended with an auction of high quality items such as a sculpture of the German artist Rotraut Klein-Moquay, ‘Playing with Stars’, donated by Guy Pieters Gallery in Knokke Le Zoute, a beautiful bronze sculpture of the Dutch well known artist Nancy Faas, ‘Protection, Art meets Humanity’, a weekend in the legendary Plaza Athénée in Paris and jewelry of Gassan Diamonds, ‘Fly me to the Moon’, led by the famous auction master Mr Junior Zegger. Thanks to the guests offering high amounts for the items and thanks to Mr Paul van Rensch, who helped organizing the event and sponsored the evening amongst others by contributing great travel photo books and some selected photographs printed on metal, all items auctioned for impressive amounts. The auction was a great success!

The major part of the revenue of the event will be donated for the benefit of the Syrian child refugees in the camps in Jordan. Another part of the revenue will be donated to an educational project for children to be organized by Het Noordbrabants Museum.

Charity is a never-ending story. With the contribution of donators AMADE hopes to make the life of some children a little better.

In 2017 AMADE continues and is looking for a perfect location to organize a new event according to its exclusive theme: ‘Art meets humanity’.

The Hague, January 2017