A “mini summit” of representatives from three of Andrew Carnegie’s nine existing hero funds took place in The Hague, Netherlands, last spring, hosted by Boi Jongejan, second from right, and Bart Brands, second from left, of the Dutch Carnegie Hero Fund, Stichting Carnegie Heldenfonds. Representing the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission (U.S./Canada) was board member Linda Thorell Hills, right, and Agneta Ahlbeck, center, is with the Swedish fund, Carnegiestiftelsen. At left is Sophie Brinkel of The Peace Palace in The Hague, which, funded by a grant from Carnegie more than a century ago, is home to the International Court of Justice. Hills said that impromptu meetings of the type—she and Ahlbeck were in Holland on a tulip tour—are good for the future of the Carnegie Hero Funds World Committee, a newly organized consortium of all of the funds that is next planning to meet in The Hague in October. Learning more of the Dutch fund, Hills said it is “enthusiastic and quite active,” having awarded over 40 medals in the past year: “There seems to be a lot of energy invested.” Brands informed the visitors that the Netherlands is a land of many risks, primarily water related, resulting in many awards given for drowning rescues.
