Shovels, Smiles and Small Moments of Connection: A morning in a farm with Serve the City Amsterdam
At a children’s farm tucked away in Ganzenhoef, the sound of laughter mixes with the rustle of straw and the occasional snort from pigs. Volunteers in gloves and boots shovel, rake, and chat while the sun filters through the barn roof. Its not glamorous work but that is exactly what makes it special.
Serve the City Amsterdam, a volunteer network that connects locals and internationals with community projects across the city, runs these kinds of activities every weekend. From serving meals to the unhoused to gardening and helping at children’s farms, the focus is simple: bringing people together to do good.
“I moved to Amsterdam after my studies,” says Karen, pausing briefly from her task. “I wanted to get to know the city and meet people and this felt like a good way to do both.” She smiles as she adjusts her shovel. “It is also teamwork. If I had to do this alone all day, I would not enjoy it as much. But together, it’s fun.”
For many volunteers Serve the City provides more than just an outlet to help others. It is a way to find community in a big, sometimes impersonal city. Natalia, who recently started volunteering says she was initially nervous to show up alone. “I woke up in the morning thinking, “This better be fun.” But it really was. Everyone’s so friendly. I used to volunteer a lot back home in Romania, and I missed that feeling,” she says. “Now that I work full time, I have more free time on weekends so this is perfect.”
Like others Natalia discovered Serve the City online but what keeps her coming back are the connections. “If you come with a friend, you will just end up talking to your friend,” she says. “So I make sure I come by myself so that I can interact with new people.” For Annie, originally from Germany, volunteering has become a path toward something deeper. After years in marketing and TV production, she wanted to shift to work that felt more human. “I was not happy there,” she admits. “I wanted to do something for the community, because that is what is missing in big cities.”
Her first Serve the City experience involved walking with elderly residents in wheelchairs. “My Dutch wasn’t great,” she says, “but it didn’t matter. We were laughing and joking anyway. It showed me that you can connect without speaking the same language.
”That spirit of connection built across languages, backgrounds, and professions is at the heart of Serve the City. The organization’s projects attract a mix of internationals and locals who simply want to make a difference, no matter how small. Whether it’s cooking meals, feeding goats, or cleaning an elderly’s yard, every task is part of something larger.
By midday, the volunteers take a short break, leaning on their shovels and sipping water in the soft autumn sun. The animals are fed, the barn floor looks almost spotless, and laughter bounces off the wooden fences. The rhythm of the afternoon settles in: scraping, brushing, sweeping, talking. Between the lighthearted jokes, there’s a quiet satisfaction that fills the space, the feeling of doing something good together. As Annie puts it,
“It’s not just about helping others. It helps you, too.”
