FRONTIER HORIZON PROPOSAL
ORPHANAGE # 5
SELF-SUFFICIENCY, ORGANIC GREENHOUSE PROJECT

ABOUT FRONTIER HORIZON, INC.

Frontier Horizon, Inc., is a humanitarian aid organization established to meet immediate and long-term needs of orphans and destitute people around the world. Specifically, Frontier Horizon seeks to improve the health, education, and general welfare of orphaned children in Ukraine and Nicaragua. Frontier Horizon’s goal is to improve living conditions; better people’s nutrition; and, create a healthy economic, environmental, and spiritual balance that will benefit the community as a whole through agricultural development and small-business self-sufficiency projects.

STATEMENT OF NEED

The Odessa Boarding School, known as “Orphanage #5,” was built in the 1950s under Communist regime. The orphanage is a government-run facility which belongs to the city of Odessa, and it currently houses approximately 400 orphans and children from the Odessa region. Orphanage #5 provides shelter, nourishment, and education for children who may otherwise live alone on the streets of Odessa. Children arrive at the orphanage for one of three reasons:
Their parents have abandoned them;
Their parents are too poor to financially support the children on a consistent basis;
Or, their custodial parents or guardians have died.
The children range in age from six to eighteen years old, and they are in grades one through eleven.
After the fall of communism, in the early 1990s, Ukraine began the difficult process of transitioning from a strict socialist economy to a capitalist economy. During this transition, the orphans and the elderly suffered the most. Without family to support them, the children were (and continue to be) under the care of a government that struggles to learn democracy and sustain itself. While the orphanages receive some governmental support for food and basic necessities, much of their support comes from United States-based humanitarian aid organizations, like Frontier Horizon.
In order to meet the needs of between 300-500 children, the orphanage has a constant need for funding and support. This Organic Greenhouse Project will not only alleviate some of the practical needs of the orphanage in providing food and nourishment for the children, but it will also provide financial resources for the orphanage and help develop an academic and practical awareness of farming. Orphanage students will have the opportunity to visit and learn from the project in an academic setting while older orphanage children can work at the Organic Greenhouse Project and receive a small salary. Students and workers will also learn of environmentally friendly practices as well as the health and nutritional benefits of fresh, organic foods.

At Odessa’s Orphanage # 5, the food the children eat is often lacking the daily vitamins and minerals that they need. The food at the orphanages does not provide the children with well-balanced meals. Because the children live in extremely poor conditions, the orphanage staff is constantly looking for donors to meet basic needs—educational, nutritional, clothing needs, and medical needs. The director and staff at Orphanage # 5 recognize these issues as on-going needs, and they desire to see self-sufficiency projects like the Organic Greenhouse Project further educate children while providing for the orphanage’s financial and nutritional needs over the long-term. Self-sufficiency projects like the Organic Greenhouse Project are of paramount importance for an orphanage, like Orphanage #5, since the children can help sustain the project which will, in turn, help provide for the orphanage’s financial and nutritional needs in an on-going fashion.

GOALS

The goal of Frontier Horizon’s Self-Sufficiency Organic Greenhouse Project at Orphanage #5 is two-fold: to serve the children at Orphanage #5 and to serve as a model within the Odessa community, at large. Initially, Frontier Horizon seeks to begin an environmentally friendly greenhouse at the orphanage that teaches farming skills; provides the children with a more nutritious, healthier diet; and, meets some of the financial and other needs of the orphanage. The long term goals of the project are to replicate this model at other orphanages throughout Ukraine. Our goals focus on the environment, academic awareness, nutrition, and helping to sustain the orphanages over the long-term. Through Frontier Horizon’s Self-Sufficiency Organic Greenhouse Project at Orphanage #5, we seek to:

¬ Serve the children and staff at Odessa’s Orphanage #5 by:

o Providing a healthy, diverse diet for all orphans and orphanage workers;

o Providing vocational training and small business experience for the older youth at Orphanage # 5 (and the neighboring Odessa community);

o Offering an on-going educational experience for younger youth and students to learn about the project and to apply it to their academic studies;

o Making Orphanage # 5 more financially independent by generating on-going, predictable annual income and off-setting a portion of their monthly and annual food budget;

¬ Serve as a model within the Odessa community, at large by:

o Establishing a self-sustaining, integrated, Organic Greenhouse that can be used to promote environmentally sound agriculture in the area;

o Providing a training site for self-sufficiency organic greenhouses for other organizations or projects to replicate;

o Providing Ukrainian consumers in Odessa with affordable, chemical-free produce.
FRONTIER HORIZON PROPOSAL

ORPHANAGE # 5
SELF-SUFFICIENT, ORGANIC GREENHOUSE PROJECT
PROJECT BUDGET

ORGANIC GREENHOUSE BUDGET

Greenhouse Structure

Greenhouse frame 24 ft x 96 ft sq ft

$3,133.44
End-wall framing package

$120.00
Aluminum 42-in personnel door each

$172.00
6-mil plastic, 48 ft x 100 ft roll (2 x 260.00)

$520.00
Base locking rail with inserts

$504.00
Inflation kit each

$64.00
Heater system Gas 145,000 BTU (2 860.00)

$1,720.00
Cooling fans 48″ (2 x 630.00)

$1,260.00
Cooling pads 48″x12″x6″ (24 x 42.00)

$1,008.00
Pump & plumbing wet wall 300 gal.

$625.00
Inlet shutters 33″ x 33″ motorized (4 x 250.00)
$1,000.00
Electrical wiring package

$400.00
Ground cover woven plastic

$138.00
Black plastic 6-mil

$138.00
Pea gravel

$68.00
Irrigation drip system

$1,275.00
Bags (pine bark)

$175.50
Subtotal greenhouse structure:

$12,320.94

Machinery & equipment

Backpack sprayer pump

$100.00
Thermostat single stage (2 x 55.00)

$110.00
Respirator

$75.00
Pollinator

$110.00
Thermometer hi/lo

$20.00
Transplant benches wood (2 x25.00)

$50.00
Meters EC (2 x 200.00)

$400.00
pH (2 x 150.00)

$300.00

Backup generator electric

$500.00
Subtotal machinery & equipment

$1,665.00

Assembly and installation (labor)

$1,000.00

Utility hookups (electrical, gas, and water)
$375.00

General overhead (Utility expenses for one year)

Heating

$1,537.00
Water

$1,767.00
Electricity

$540.00
Telephone

$621.00
Repairs and Maintenance

$326.00
Lab fees

$270.00

Subtotal general overhead for one year

$5.061.00

Agronomist/Project Manager yearly salary:
$6,000.00

PROJECT TOTAL

$26,421.94

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT AND OVERSIGHT

Project Manager

The Project Manager for the Self-Sufficiency, Organic Greenhouse Project at Orphanage #5 is Lidiya Pashkova. Ms. Pashkova was trained at the Ukrainian Research Institute of Conservation. She has been working as a biology teacher at the orphanage since 1985. Her assistant is Nickolay Polishchul, a local professional gardener. Their initial plan is to begin growing tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, garlic, parsley, and dill in the greenhouse.

Construction

Construction will be executed and completed by local professionals from the Odessa region under the supervision of the Project Manager, Lidiya Pashkova, and the President of Frontier Horizon, Dr. Vincent Rosini.

Location and Security

The property of Orphanage #5 includes a large piece of land behind the orphanage building that will house the greenhouse. The greenhouse will be located in the backyard area in close proximity to the orphanage building. Both the orphanage building and the backyard area are completely enclosed by a high fence. There is security in and around the orphanage twenty-four hours each day and seven days each week. There is a security night patrol that makes routine rounds, and the greenhouse property will be included in the area which the guard will patrol each night.

EXPECTED RESULTS

Frontier Horizon has had success with organic farming projects in Nicaragua and hopes to bring the same results to the Greenhouse Project at Orphanage # 5. Frontier Horizon expects the following results from the project:

¬ All profits earned from the sale of products or for vocational training will be reinvested in the Greenhouse Project or used to help meet orphanage needs;

¬ The Agronomist/Project Manager will earn a base monthly salary. If she or he demonstrates exemplary performance and creativity, incentives or rewards will be offered. All jobs are carried out according to a legal contract;

¬ When the orphanage’s teenagers are used as labor for farm tasks, they will be paid the same rate as any other laborer. A savings account will be established for all teenage workers from the orphanage, if they choose;

¬ The project manager will investigate and establish the markets as well as determine what to grow and where produce and products will be sold;

¬ The orphanage children will receive nutritious food that is grown on their own property and that several teenage students worked to grow.

The most visible outcomes of this project will be determined by the increase in quantity and quality of food for the children and in the yearly increase of the project’s financial profit. With a carefully planned project, a wise agronomist, and adequate protection from theft during crucial periods, there is a very high probability of success. After this base has been established, Frontier Horizon and the orphanage can then add more components incrementally; and, within two to three years, the Organic Greenhouse Project should be a profitable/self-sustaining Greenhouse Project and a model for vocational training throughout the region.