Though food became hard to find, Erika never experienced a severe lack of food for the family. (Matthew 6:33) A Catholic farmer, for whom I once had repaired a sewing machine, gave her potatoes. He also passed on messages from me to Erika. Once, she paid one gulden for an item in a drugstore. The owner, knowing that she was living in hiding and unable to obtain food ration cards, gave her the item and also two guldens. Such expressions of sympathy helped her to survive.​—Hebrews 13:5.

In addition, we organized the transportation of food from farms in eastern Netherlands to the cities in the west, even though this was forbidden. We would load food on a horse-drawn wagon and head west. When we reached a river, we could use none of the bridges because they were guarded by soldiers. Instead, we unloaded the cargo into small boats, shuttled the food across the river, and then reloaded the cargo onto another wagon. When we reached the city that was our destination, we waited till darkness fell, pulled socks over the horse’s hooves, and quietly went to the congregation’s secret food depot. From there, the food was distributed to needy brothers.

If the German army were to discover such a food depot, it could cost someone his life. Nonetheless, several brothers volunteered to help out. The Bloemink family in the town of Amersfoort, for instance, let their living room be used as a warehouse for food, although their house was only a stone’s throw from a German army garrison! Courageous Witnesses such as these risked their lives in behalf of their brothers.