2 weeks ago (Feb16th) I summarized here (in Polish) the state of affairs and the lack of housing challenges facing the 17,000 young people in Poland who every year, on reaching their adulthood, have to leave foster care but do not have anywhere to move to. 85% of them end up with their biological families where there was alcohol, physical abuse and other pathologies. Even if the young adults had developed certain aspirations, those easily evaporate in such unfavourable environments.
This lack of housing issue is not something that we have ever heard in Poland discussed in the media or anywhere else. We are completely unaware of the problem’s existance. It is an #OrphanedProblem or #OsieroconyProblem, in Polish.
We, at FRIDOMIA FOUNDATION (FF), decided to adopt this #osieroconyproblem. We have a good idea, a workable, practical solution of solving the problem. And solving it not just for one or two kids, or even a few dozens, but for all 17000 kids leaving foster care annually in Poland?? And after we demonstrate success in Poland, perhaps helping to solve this universal problem in Kenya??, Ukraine??, Colombia??, in Indonesia??, in the whole World?️
THE SOLUTION?
1. FF will be raising money to buy flats for the young adults leaving foster care
2. Those flats will be handed over – free of charge and for ever – to competent NGOs whose mission is to assist the Beneficiaries, i.e. they help young adults from foster care transition into adulthood
3.The NGOs will give those flats to the Beneficiaries on a rotational basis, for a max of 2-3 years until they are able to stand on their two feet. After 2-3 years they should vacate those flats for younger Beneficiaries
4. We will adopt a 1/3 Principle. Only 1/3 of flats belonging to FF will be handed over to NGOs forever and availed to Beneficiaries immediately
5. 2/3 of flats will be rented at market rates, so that they can earn money to buy more flats
6. Adopting this Principle will make FF financially free and will mean, its portfolio of flats will grow almost indefinately, or at least until it has enough flats to meet the needs of all the needy
7. The property management of all the flats belonging to FF will be outsourced to professionals
8. By outsourcing providing care to Beneficiaries to NGOs and the property management to professionals, the small staff of FF will be able to focus solely on fund-raising to buy more and more flats
9. The small size of staff will also mean low overheads and that 90+% of the money raised will go into buying flats for the Beneficiaries (I would like to Under line that I shall Never take any salary or remunerstion from FF)
10. FF started in November 2019. Today it has 3 flats (donated by myself to kick-start)
11. One of the 3 flats is being renovated and will soon be handed over to a Lodz- based NGO. The remaining 2 flats are being rented at normal market rates and after 5-6 years will have earned enough for FF to buy Flat No. 4
CHALLENGES?
Challenge 1. This process would take hundreds of years before FF was able to provide housing to all 17.000 needy kids.
The 2 flats mentioned above would buy Flat No. 4 in, say, 2025. From then onwards, 3 flats would work hard for another 3-4 years to buy No. 5 in 2029. From that point, 4 flats would work for 3 years to buy Flat No 6 which – in keeping with the 1/3 Principle – would be handed to an NGO in 2032. The 4 flats would continue to work another 3 years, till 2035 before buying Flat No. 7. Now 5 flats would need only 2 years of work to buy Flat No. 8 in 2037 and 6 flats another 2 years to buy Flat No. 9 in 2039
In 2039, FF would own a total of 9 flats of which 3 would be handed over, forever, to NGOs, and to Beneficiaries. It will have taken 20 years to reach a situation similar to handing over all 3 flats to NGOs that FF owns today. But in 2039 aparat from 3 flats helping the Beneficiaries, FF will own 6 more flats, working busily to continue buying more and more, indefinately into the future
Still, it would take FF hundreds of years to own 50.000 flats to provide the 17000 young adults leaving foster care each year for a period of 3 years
Fortunately, you might have noticed from my calculations above that with each new flat it takes shorter time to buy the next one. That’s thanks to a phenomenon known as compound interest ?
Challenge 2.
Compound interest initially works very slow, at a snail’s pace. Waiting 5-6 years for rental income to accumulate enough to buy a next flat is very boring, it’s like watching paint dry. Fortunately, I have gone through that process once already when I was building my own financial freedom. So I know we need to be patent. But being only patent, I imagined that assuming I die at 80, I will have seen FF owning only a very small percentage of the flats needed to solve #osieroconyproblem
Challenge 3.
Whereas I did not need anyone’s help to build my own financial freedom, or to visit all 195 countries twice, or to learn to speak 12 languages, #osieroconyproblem is too big a challenge for me alone. I decided to ask for help!!!
And asking for help is a big challenge for me personally. I decided to become a beggar and I am beginning to like and enjoy my new chosen profession???
But will I learn to be a good, effective beggar? I am not sure. Never tried it before, but I am counting on your strong encouragement???
How can you encourage me?
Apart from the words of encouragement, like “great idea, Sławek!” you may also:
(1) buy a copy of our book “Pomarańczowa wolność finansowa” – 100% of proceeds will be used to buy Flat No. 4 and we hope to be in a position to buy it before the end of May 2020
(2) if you do not speak Polish (the book has not been translated to English yet) you may buy a copy for your Polish friend or to impress a Polish lady you work with or to learn Polish
(3) if not interested in the book ( before it comes out in English) you may make a cash contribution to FF bank account
(4) if you speak Polish and already have the book (please accept my gratitude???), you may buy one for your friend and ask them to buy one for one of their friends and ask them to buy for their friend
(5) you may put a review of the book on your social media to encourage others to buy
(6) you may volunteer to join our FF project team to contribute your ideas, your time, your skills, your contacts, your positive energy, anything that will help us plough on towards our goal of solving the #osieroconyproblem in a SYSTEMIC manner
(7) Other means of practical support also welcome
Let’s do MAGIC
Do you now see how buying a copy of our book will help us in making one of 3000 steps to buying Flat No 4, which in turn will be one step on a 192 steps journey to reaching our mid-term Goal of 195 Flats?
By buying the book, you are setting in motion some magic. You are helping FF… travel in time? Instead of watching the paint dry until 2025 before we buy Flat No 4, we will be able to buy Flat No 4 in June, ie in 4 months instead of in 5 years!!!
Or if you prefer another analogy, you will have accelerated the speed of our progress. Instead of moving at a snail’s pace? we will have moved at a faster speed of a… tortoise?. In June 2020 we will feel like we’ve reached June 2025??? Magic, ha?
Please do join us in making magic happen??????. Together??❤️???????. Will you?
One Response
Koronawirus wpływa negatywnie również na domy dziecka i inne placówki opiekuńczo-wychowawcze.
Oto link do artykułu na Onet.pl: https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/tylko-w-onecie/koronawirus-w-polsce-domy-dziecka-sa-w-tragicznej-sytuacji/e2pryp0