A voluntary program Amsterdam provides 10 euros (about $13), some rolling tobacco and five delicious cans of beer per day to a bunch of alcoholics who clean the streets around a large, English garden-style park.
Hot coffee in the morning and a hearty lunch appear to be additional perks.
The free beer is regimented, reports the Daily Mail. Participating alcoholics receive two brews to prepare for the hard day of cleaning. There are two more beers at lunch. At the end of the day, participants take off their fluorescent street cleaner’s bibs and quaff down a final brewski.
The workday — including lunch and drinking time — is from 9:00 am until 3:30 pm.
“This group of chronic alcoholics was causing a nuisance in Amsterdam’s Oosterpark: fights, noise, disagreeable comments to women,” explained the manager of the scheme, Gerrie Holterman, according to The Times of South Africa.
Holterman works for the Rainbow Foundation Project, an organization funded by the government of the Netherlands as well as private donations.
“The aim is to keep them occupied, to get them doing something so they no longer cause trouble at the park,” she added.
“They’re no longer in the park, they drink less, they eat better and they have something to keep them busy during the day.”
Holterman compared the project to the country’s free heroin clinics, where junkies can use high-quality smack up to three times a day.
“Heroin addicts can go to shooting galleries, so why shouldn’t we also give people beer?” she said.
The street-cleaning alcoholics tidy streets in two teams of about 10 people. Each group works three days a week.
Neighborhood residents seem to appreciate the program.
“They’re doing something useful instead of hanging out in the park,” said an unidentified local denizen, according to The Times.
Project participants are also happy.
“It gives our lives some structure,” one unnamed alcoholic said, according to The Times.
“What’s also good is that the beer they give us is light, 5 percent, not 11 percent or 12 percent like I used to drink,” added an alcoholic named Vincent.
However, the drinking day isn’t necessarily over after participants leave.
“When we leave here, we go to the supermarket and transform the 10 euros we earned into beers,” observed an alcoholic named Frank.
“When the supermarket opens at 8:00 am, we’re the first there so we can get some drinks.”
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