Zenders Café showing gezelligheid

Gezelligheid is a Dutch word that means people getting together to have fellowship, frivolity and fun. And gezelligheid is exactly what Zenders Café and Venue offers to their customers. Zenders Café and Venue is situated at 44 Hopkins Road (formerly 439 Ruakura Rd) in Newstead on the outskirts of Hamilton. The owners—unsurprisingly—are Dutch! The three sisters have based the relatively new building on their grandfather’s Dutch farmhouse, Schildheuvel, and set up their business in 2018 in honour of their parents who migrated to New Zealand in the 1950s. Their focus is on connection.

As part of their values-based philosophy, Zenders Café and Venue has donated 40 meals of sandwiches to The Serve Trust in Hamilton. The Serve Trust is a group of volunteers dedicated to helping those in need in the Waikato community by providing food—every day of the year!

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Their open-door policy means that people who are hungry and need a good meal can always come to The Serve Trust to be served. Apparently, they “never run out of food”—and this is, in part, thanks to generous donations from places like Zenders Café and Venue. The Serve Trust also reaches out and connects with its community.

GoGenerosity also supports having fellowship, frivolity and fun—even if we are not Dutch! We are so proud of the pay-it-forwards that Zenders Café and Venue have given to The Serve Trust and hold highly the value of connection and meeting needs, just like Zenders Café.

The Dutch love their sandwiches, so these seemed an apt treat to donate to those who are hungry through The Serve Trust. And they would have been lovingly prepared in a gezellig way.