Simon Jelsma (1918-2011) - a remarkable man

Simon's support to the Roosevelt Stichting has been an inspiration for us. We admire his efforts in helping the poor build economically independent livelihoods and getting their rights respected in the spirit of the Four Freedoms.

Oxfam Novib started out as Novib in 1956, the first politically independent and non-religious development organisation in the Netherlands. After the floods in 1953 the Netherlands received a lot of aid from other countries, even from India. Father Simon Jelsma and others wanted to return the favour. On March 1956 they founded the Netherlands Organisation for International Assistance (Novib) to help people in Third World countries.

In 1989, together with Boudewijn Poelmann, Frank Leeman and Herman de Jong, he founded the Nationale Postcode Loterij (Postcode Lottery in the Netherlands), which is now the largest charity lottery in The Netherlands. More than 84 charitable organisations, active in the fields of development cooperation, human rights, nature preservation and social cohesion, benefit from the donations of the Postcode Lottery. Half the price of every lottery ticket goes directly to these charities. The Postcode Lottery has distributed a record €284 million in 2011, thanks to the 2.5 million Postcode Lottery players.