WILLEMSTAD – Today was the start of a variation of the ‘Walk for the Roses’, as a lead-in for the 15th anniversary of the Ride for the Roses Curaçao (RFTRC) foundation in January 2019. Vice president of RFTRC, Curd Evertsz, intends to walk 1000 kilometers by January of next year. In turn, this will hopefully generate new standing orders at local banks in favor of RFTRC. This ‘Standing Order 1000’ plan will ensure a continuous flow of income for RFTRC and symbolizes the importance of walking regularly and the continuous fight against cancer.

The possibility already existed for individuals and institutions to transfer a certain amount of money to the foundation each month via a standing order. This could be a very important and interesting source for the efforts realized each year with the Ride-Sail-Swim-Walk for the Roses. Standing order forms can be found at all local banks, but of course RFTRC will also gladly assist with filling in the forms of the bank of your choice. The benefactor completes the form and authorizes the bank to transfer a certain amount in favor of RFTRC every month. No additional steps are required, and the transfers can be tracked every month without a lot of paperwork. To give this component of the RFTRC funding activities a boost, a new approach was surveyed. With the support of his physicians, Curd Evertsz devised the plan to walk 1000 kilometers during these remaining months to bring in as many standing orders as possible.

Press Conference

Today Curd Evertsz walked his first kilometers. The start was at the office of notary Adèle van der Pluym at the corner of the Perseusweg, where the document of the ‘SO 1000’ plan was officially registered in the presence of RFTRC chairman Robbin Martina and other board members. The walk continued to the Orco Bank, the main sponsor of the foundation, where they expressed support for the idea and then on to the office of the ‘Princess Wilhelmina Fonds’ at Scharloo where at that moment the local media was being informed of this latest development during a press conference organized by RFTRC. Today’s distance of approximately 7 kilometers already generated the first new standing orders for the RFTRC. Of course, everything was set up in advance in such a way that the first walk would end at Scharloo to coincide with the press conference. Curd Evertsz will be walking mainly by himself, but if more people want to join him during his walks – which in itself is a healthy activity – they can only do so if they show up with new standing orders for the RFTRC.

Registration for standing orders is also possible via mail address so1000@ridefortheroses.net. Whenever possible, Curd Evertsz personally will pick-up standing orders during his walks. Obviously, all the distances covered will be verified and officially logged using the Vivoactive 3 device. This was made possible thanks to Barry Bakker of DASIA who immediately signed on as a sponsor of this SO 1000 plan. He supplied the GARMIN Smartwatch for this noble cause (see photo). Progress of this SO 1000 plan will be broadcast on a regular basis and there will be several interesting activities coming up to help achieve the goal of this SO 1000 plan.