Do good initiative GiveMe5 wins Omarm Prize 2022

The Present makes rooms available for economically homeless with hotels

The do good initiative GiveMe5 has the 8^e edition of the Omarm Prize. This prize is awarded annually by the PACT for Amsterdam to existing initiatives that create opportunities for Amsterdam residents with tight wallets. GiveMe5, a project of The Present Foundation, invites hotels to make five rooms available to economically homeless people. A group that - partly due to rising inflation and housing crisis - is growing steadily. Amsterdam hotels Kimpton de Witt, Pestana Riverside Amsterdam and Holiday Inn Express already participate in the initiative. In the future, GiveMe5 hopes to expand their impact by working with local hotels to also offer economically homeless people in The Hague, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Eindhoven and Groningen a temporary place to live.

Hotel rooms for economically homeless people in Amsterdam

GiveMe5 is an initiative of The Present, a foundation working towards a more inclusive society. Through matchmaking, events and campaigns, The Present connects entrepreneurs with social initiatives to contribute from their expertise. For GiveMe5, they are specifically encouraging the hotel industry to make five rooms or 1% of their total occupancy available per hotel to economically homeless people who have lost their homes and ended up on the streets due to a confluence of circumstances (bankruptcy, divorce, job loss). Hotels can play a crucial positive role in this by making their rooms available for a period of three months; the time a person needs to get out of survival mode and rebuild a life. Marnix Geus, initiator GiveMe5: "A temporary, safe place to live gives economically homeless people the peace and space to stop, gain self-confidence and look ahead. We are extremely happy that this is being recognised, both by the PACT for Amsterdam and the hotels we work with." Seven different hotels in Amsterdam are currently participating in GiveMe5, including Kimpton de Witt, Pestana Riverside Amsterdam & Holiday Inn Express. The participating Jaz Hotel even goes a step further, offering not only a room but also a traineeship to the new occupant.

The Omarm Prize 2022

Since 2014, the Omarm Prize has been awarded to existing initiatives that create opportunities for Amsterdam residents with a tight wallet. This year, a total of 24 different initiatives were nominated and assessed by an eight-member jury that included Marjolein Moorman, Martin van Engel and Ugur Pekdemir. They took into account originality, personal involvement, concrete change of a situation and respect for people and the environment, among other things. The presentation of the Omarmprijs 2022 took place this afternoon at Podium Mozaïek in Amsterdam West.

Hotel operators wishing to join GiveMe5 can do so via https://www.giveme5.world/.