{"id":2805,"date":"2025-09-05T05:28:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T05:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dara-europe.nl\/?p=2805"},"modified":"2026-07-24T06:12:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T06:12:58","slug":"a-lifetime-of-giving-tonny-and-her-commitment-to-dara-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dara-europe.nl\/en\/2025\/09\/05\/a-lifetime-of-giving-tonny-and-her-commitment-to-dara-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"A lifetime of giving: Tonny on her involvement with DARA Europe"},"content":{"rendered":" \n

Sometimes a story begins very simply. For Tonny de Jong (85), it was through Tirza, initiator of DARA Europe<\/a> for whom she was babysitting grandmother for many years. When Tirza turned eighteen, she went backpacking and ended up in Cambodia. There she volunteered in an orphanage. The stories she brought back with her stuck with Tonny. <\/strong><\/p> \n \n

“Tirza talked so enthusiastically,” says Tonny. “Especially in the beginning, she shared everything. She was young and lost her heart there. That touched me tremendously. She had taken it well and brought her whole family into it. “From that moment on, I felt connected to the work in Cambodia.” <\/p> \n \n

\"\"<\/figure> \n \n

From first gift to regular donor<\/strong>Soon Tonny decided to get actively involved. She attended DARA Europe events, bought products as gifts and made annual donations. In a very personal moment, she also made space for DARA Europe. <\/p> \n \n

“At our wedding party, we asked guests to contribute to DARA. Instead of gifts, we gave something back together. “That felt very special.”<\/p> \n \n

After years of supporting the charity Plan Netherlands, where she financially supported children until their eighteenth birthday, she made a conscious switch. “When those children became adults, I became a regular donor to DARA Europe,” she said. “That was several years ago.” <\/p> \n\r\n

\r\n
\n

Education as key<\/strong> What touches Tonny the most is the emphasis on education. “An orphanage gives children shelter and food, and education gives a future. You are committed to schools and teaching materials, and I find that very valuable.”She emphasizes how carefully DARA Europe handles funds. “I know exactly where the money ends up.” Every euro is well spent. There is no bows and high salaries, everything is voluntary. That gives me confidence.” <\/p> \n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\n
\"\"\/<\/figure> \n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n \n
\n
\n

“You guys are committed to schools and teaching materials and I think that’s very valuable.”<\/p> \n<\/blockquote> \n<\/figure> \n \n

Involvement that connects<\/strong> “You see the children (growing up), you read about it in the newsletter, and you feel it makes a difference. She experiences that connection to the community in Andong all the time. “I see that the students are being followed and that they are progressing.” That’s what makes education so important. “It not only helps the children, but also their families.” When we ask her if she would recommend others to become donors, Tonny replies, “Yes, definitely. You know where the money goes and that it is reliable. Tirza as the initiator, her family members and the team of volunteers behind DARA Europe are totally behind it. And you feel that Therefore I support this with full conviction.”<\/p> \n \n

Tonny’s story shows how one enthusiastic journey by a young adult can grow into a lifelong commitment. What began as listening to stories has grown into a bond that connects generations and gives children in Cambodia a future. <\/em><\/strong><\/p> \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes a story begins very simply. For Tonny de Jong (85), it was through Tirza, initiator of DARA Europe for whom she was babysitting grandmother for many years. When Tirza turned eighteen, she went backpacking and ended up in Cambodia. There she volunteered in an orphanage. The stories she brought back with her stuck […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":4922,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dara-europe.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Tirza-met-schoolkinderen.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dara-europe.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dara-europe.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dara-europe.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dara-europe.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dara-europe.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2805"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/dara-europe.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4761,"href":"https:\/\/dara-europe.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2805\/revisions\/4761"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dara-europe.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dara-europe.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dara-europe.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dara-europe.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}