Operation 5

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Project name

Operation 5

Posted by

Forest O

Start Date:

9/5/2011

End Date:

3/10/2012

Nonprofit Partner
YMCAatlteens - YMCA of Metropolitan Atlanta

Cause

Children

$1,800.00 was raised for this
project!

Location

The YMCA of Metropolitan Atlanta,Georgia

Project Date and Time

"Operation 5" will last for five months, between September 5th, 2011 and February 5th, 2012.

Project Budget

Operation 5 is a campaign to raise $10,000 in support of the Kojori Orphanage, located south of the Republic of Georgian capital Tbilisi. $4000 will provide stable transportation and food stipends for English language teachers for 52 weeks; $4,600 will provide both a new multi-purpose playing field with basketball and soccer fixtures, and a new pair of shoes for each orphan; a final $1,000 will support a year-long Pen-Pal program between the orphans and a local elementary school. With strong support, Operation 5 will continue into the coming years, breathing new life into the Kojori Orphanage.

The problem you want to help solve?
The Kojori Orphanage is severely under-funded, largely due to the lack resources at the Georgian government's disposal. Despite this, the facility is home to roughly seventy-five children for at least ten months of the year. The campus was in shambles when we arrived; all of the concrete was cracked and uneven, the playing fields were choked with weeds and shards of glass, the buildings were old and dilapidated, and it seemed that the children were forced to survive on what little resources were allotted to them through sponsorship by the YMCA of Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia. Philanthropy is a growing concept in the Republic of Georgia, and I hope that by putting the Kojori Orphanage "back on the map," the facility will never reach this level of disrepair again.
Why is it important?
The children of the Kojori Orphanage are all but forgotten. The facility, located a few miles into the mountains, has be left to decay, though it must constantly make room for new children. Prospects for these orphans are bleak at best; after age 18 the children will be forced to the streets, restricted to a traumatic life of danger and poverty. Enrichment provided through Operation 5, in tandem with efforts from the YMCA of Tbilisi will help these children lead fulfilling lives.
Who will benefit?
This project will improve the quality of life for roughly seventy-five orphans (between the ages of six and seventeen) by enhancing their education with English lessons, constructing a brand new multipurpose playing surface that will provide safe, healthy space for play, contact with Atlanta school children through a year-long pen-pal system, and the shoes that the orphanage cannot afford to purchase for each child.
What are the goals of the project?
Operation five endeavors to provide stable transportation and food stipends for English language teachers to facilitate a 52-week program to help bring the children up par with their peers, construct a multi-purpose turf field in place of the current neglected, littered play area, connect the orphans to a Metro Atlanta elementary school through a pen-pal program, and purchase shoes and other clothing items for each orphan.
What do you hope to accomplish by the end of this project?
I hope to strengthen the bond between the YMCA of Metropolitan Atlanta and the YMCA of Tbilisi, re-invigorate the lives of the Kojori Orphanage, and hopefully provide new avenues for Georgian teens to engage in community service as philanthropy continues to grow in the country.
What will you be doing?
Over the next few months I will engage my community in this initiative through individual contact, and promotion, meet with local principals in order to secure enough students to participate in the proposed pen-pal system and involve my local teen leadership club, and my school's National Honors Society to assist in raising donations for this cause. I will also report monthly progress to contacts at the YMCA of Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, and Wesley Bender of the YMCA of Metropolitan Atlanta. I will be co-leading the return mission to the Republic of Georgia this July, and hope to witness the initial impact of this endeavor first hand.