Kim Hendriks, who vowed to never talk at a TEDx event, has to eat her words today instead of soup, for she has taken her place onto our stage to talk about her idea worth spreading. A year ago she was too chicken to talk but today she is a chicken with a mission!

Kim’s story starts with Cecilia, an elderly woman she brought meals to. At first it was to help Cecilia, but Kim started to enjoy these visits as well. She enjoyed their conversations and talking about the past. Cecilia, however, is not the only one who could benefits from these visits. There are two main problems among the elderly; malnutrition and loneliness. About 7% of the elderly are underfed, resulting in sickness and being unable to take care of themselves. On top of that is 10% of those people lonely all the time. Very painful, feeling of nothingness, torn up, drowning, scared. These are a few words they use to describe their feelings. The need for people is a very real need.  It’s a hunger.

Kim wants to still this hunger by having volunteers bring food and soup to lonely/elderly people, to make a connection between young and old. Volunteers will be matched with elderly, their adventures documented in the Soup Buddies newspaper. As a social entrepreneur Kim wants to create impact to the max and get going, but reality kicks in. She has put the audience to a task, what can we do to add value to Kim’s idea, and to help the elderly in our environment? She can’t do it alone. Take a minute to think about if and how you want to contribute. Think Global, act local. The chicken has spoken. Now it’s up to us.