Who we are
Foundation Meant to Shine was established in 2005 by Ane Marten & Mirjam de Vries. They have lived on the island Curacao with their two children Jairo (11) and Jonathan (7) since June 2003.
“We were deeply touched by the need we saw among children in Columbia and Ethiopia when we were there for the adoption of our children. Somehow we always knew, but standing eye-to-eye with groups of children without a home and living under the most miserable conditions made it a different story.”
Our desire
"This experience confirmed our plans and our desire to help children wherever there was a need. We could name these plans and this desire our 'calling'. God guides our life, so the plans we make, we make with Him. As Bill Wilson has said “their need is our calling”.
Background
Both Ane Marten and Mirjam have a history of working in (youth) health care. After working for the Defense Department for 13 years, Ane Marten went back to school to become a Social Worker and started working an addiction treatment center. Mirjam worked for the same organization in an administrative position and as a volunteer with the clients. In addition she has worked for a Fosterparent organization. Here educations include administrative assistant and casemanager and she has previously worked as an administrative assistant for two companies.
The need
“In 2003 we moved to Curacao to manage a Children's Home. We worked there for two years. In these years it became more and more apparent how big the need is among children on the island. When our work for the home ended, we established Foundation Meant to Shine in order to help more children. Children's Home Promise was the first result soon followed by Embrace.”
The team
Ane Marten and Mirjam have poured themselves out in the work on the island together with a great group of volunteers and interns! In addition to taking in children into their own family, they are responsible for the general management and coordination of all activities the Foundation engages in.
Meet the team!