The American Youth Red Cross
While looking through a box of mail, a particular item caught my eye. It turned out to be a folded letter addressed to the American Youth Red Cross in Washington. The sender was Joke de Rijck from Afferden, Limburg, written in a clear child's handwriting. My curiosity was piqued!
What was the American Junior Red Cross? The internet provided the answer. It was founded following a donation by six children who had raised money in 1884 for the Red Cross, which had existed for three years at the time. Students participated in fundraising for the victims of the Spanish-American War in 1898. But during World War I, the organization really took off. Boxes of school supplies and other small items were sent to students overseas. A great deal of money was raised—a sum of 3.677.380 dollars during that war, an enormous amount! During World War II, the organization had nearly 20 million members. After World War II, the organization continued sending boxes of materials. Inside these boxes, a leaflet was placed on which the participating school could list its name and other address details. In addition to the teacher's name, schoolchildren were also allowed to list their names if they had helped assemble the box.
I do not know exactly how everything came about. But it is a fact that Joke de Rijck received a box of items from America. She wrote a note in the leaflet that was translated into English by someone.
The stamp and the postmark initially caught my attention, but the contents of the letter were much more interesting to me.
Great article!! B283 is likely the designation from the time before street names became widely used. The practice was to work with A… numbers in the center of the municipality, and the surrounding districts with B… C… etc. To find the corresponding address, you can obtain information from the municipal archive, which is probably housed at the regional archive in Nijmegen. Good luck!
Regional archive Nijmegen is Afferden in Gelderland and is therefore incorrect. For questions or more information about Afferden Limburg, you can contact the municipality of Bergen via the Customer Contact Centre, telephone number (0485) 34 83 83, email address info@bergen.nl or visit the town hall, Raadhuisstraat 2 in Nieuw Bergen.
hello here is Joke de Rijck I was very
surprised when I received this email, how is it possible that this is happening to me
I can no longer imagine what was in the package. My brother thought he had received a Sie. I immediately said that was definitely from me; that was hilarious.
My handwriting has remained the same. I would like to put this in the village newsletter. Regards, Joke de Rijck
Hi Joke. That’s a surprise! I hadn't expected this. What was the address where you lived back then? I’m actually quite familiar with Afferden myself, because we used to live in Malden and often headed out on our bikes towards North Limburg. Beautiful nature! Do you still live in Afferden?
Greetings from Cees
Hello Cees, how nice that you responded so quickly. Back then I lived at B283. Close to the Heijense Mill. Now it is Hengoland 7. And I got married on May 21, 1957.
And I now live in Heijen. Now the question arises: how did you come into possession of that letter? Did it stay behind in the Netherlands, or does it come from America?
It is quite special.
Regards, Joke
Hi Joke. I know that address. There is an osteopathy practice there now. Beautiful farmhouse! And of course we know the Gerardamolen too. The letter came back from the US to a dealer, and I bought that letter a few years ago. You also sometimes see them for sale on eBay by American sellers. That is how they make their way back to the Netherlands!
Greetings from Cees
For Cees Janssen:
Dear Mr. Janssen, I am the editor of the village newspaper Hèjs Nèjs, which is published monthly in Heijen. Joke de Rijck asked us to write an article for the paper about the discovery of the letter to the American Red Cross, and we visited her last night. A few questions have arisen for us, to which you might be able to help us find the answer. Would you please contact me by email?
Thank you in advance.
Marjo Boekhorst
When does the magazine come out? I am curious about this article.
The village paper in which the story appeared was in April; it was very nice. Regards, Joke Rijck