Proud sponsor of the Roosevelt Foundation

The ideas of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt deserve our engagement – ideas that De Hoop Terneuzen supports, 100%. The Four Freedoms are of vital importance within our society. That is why De Hoop Terneuzen sponsors the Four Freedoms Awards with pride and conviction, so that the Roosevelt Foundation can continue to inspire and motivate people to cherish their freedoms and actively stand up for them.

On 6 January 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered his State of the Union address, in which he called on the American Congress and the American people not to remain neutral in the war in Europe. He did not call on the United States and its allies to fight against something, but for something: namely, the restoration of democratic values, the 'Four Freedoms'. In his speech, Franklin Roosevelt said that democracy can only flourish if people all over the world have the right to freedom of speech and freedom of worship, and if they are free of want and fear.

Every year, the Four Freedoms Awards are handed out. Because freedom in any form is not a given for everyone. The Awards are granted to men, women and organisations that apply Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms (freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear) in inspiring ways.

Zeelandic forefathers

The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute in New York began granting the Four Freedoms Awards in 1950. Roosevelt’s forefathers were originally from Oud-Vossemeer, in Zeeland. That is why, from 1982 onwards, the awards ceremony has taken place internationally, in collaboration with the Roosevelt Foundation in Zeeland.