Free Borsht Initiative

Free Borsht Initiative The Free Borsht Initiative is a food aid programme operating in Odesa, South of Ukraine. The two prim

HOW IT WORKS:
The team of volunteers purchases fresh vegetables and fruits from local farmers and prepares "food boxes" which then are distributed for free among those in need, with the emphasis on serving refugees, families with children, pregnant women, and the elderly. The contents of a “food box” depend on the supply of fresh produce available each week, and usually include potatoes, carrots,

cabbage, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, greens, cauliflower, apples, and other fresh vegetables & fruits of the season, amounting to 8-12 kg of fresh food in one box. One “food box” provides an average family with food supplies for 3-4 days and costs approximately USD12 to produce. Distribution of “food boxes” organised in collaboration with local authorities to ensure that aid goes to the right people. All boxes are distributed according to the lists of eligible persons and on the presentation of identification documents. Distribution is usually conducted once a week, covering central Odesa and several villages along the Black Sea coastline. The team also organises addressed delivery to several locations where distribution not available.

This cluster munition hit my father's office in Kyiv during yesterday's horrific attack. It pierced the window, then a 8...
01/08/2025

This cluster munition hit my father's office in Kyiv during yesterday's horrific attack. It pierced the window, then a 8mm glass partition and then precisely hit his workplace. He was out at the time so there's only some cleaning and repairs in order. Still. What do you know, eh. PS It's heavier than a bullet, around 20 grams.

06/07/2025

I want to tell you about our nightlife for the last 2 months. Haven't talked about it much.

We are being hit EVERY NIGHT since May. Su***de drones come in waves of 10-20 per wave, starting around 10 pm ending around 5 am. Each drone carries 40 kg of explosive charge.

When I say "we" I mean villages along the coastline.

Air defense mobile groups use machine guns and bullets sometimes fall on our roofs and fly into our windows.

Su***de drones are much more dangerous than missiles because they are easier to hit but noone knows where they will fall and explode.

Our village has been hit hard several times since March. When I say "hard" I mean dozens of houses, shops etc. destroyed completely and several people dead.

Below video selection (go to comments to see more) is from inside my own home, and from outside of my own home, made by me, on various nights this spring and summer.

I am writing this under stairs (safest place in the house in case of explosion nearby or direct hit) while su***de drones are buzzing & exploding outside.

This post is not a call for anything. Just a reminder that a devastating and pointless war in Europe is still on and, like in any war, civilian people are the ones that suffer the most and in large numbers.

01/07/2025

Hi all. You must remember Max and Zhenya - strawberry farmer duo from Odesa region, from my post here two years ago:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=154040460614240&id=100082970487344

Max has been helping our educational project since the start of this spring/summer season. In fact, he's been great help: Max has been teaching practical/field lessons to our students on both of our demo plots.

Max has done for us 15 lessons in strawberry propagation, commercial flower propagation, tending to a greenhouse, growing cucumbers and other topics. He has taught practical skills to around 150 students of ours. Of those 150 students we know at least 50 who either have or will become farmers soon - thanks to our program.

Here you can see him teaching propagation and rooting of chrysanthemums.

If you want to help us - please see first comment to this post.

Thank you for following and for supporting us!

@топові прихильникиIMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT. NEED YOUR HELP.Dear friends,As I informed you earlier, FreeBorscht Initiative...
16/04/2025

@топові прихильники

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT. NEED YOUR HELP.

Dear friends,

As I informed you earlier, FreeBorscht Initiative has been teaching about 400 people/families how to make first steps in the farming business. We selected students ourselves. Many of those people are internal war refugees you've helped before via food boxes, some are local farming enthusiasts. Most of these people reside in Odesa oblast, some are from neighboring Mykolaiv and Vinnytsya oblasts.

The project is called "Earn from your own farm". It us our own creation. If it weren't for Razom for Ukraine we wouldn't have been able to kick it off.

This is a natural extension of our core activity but probably even more important: instead of giving people food we teach them to grow it, process it and sell it - all to make a living and provide themselves and other Ukrainians with healthy locally grown food and other farming products. After we are done, Ukraine will have several dozen (hopefully, hundreds) more small farming businesses.

Our effort is a combination of offline and online lessons from experienced farmers, sellers, plant protection specialists, marketing specialists and so on. This is all designed to show people how to make a new start in their difficult life and to demonstrate that it is not hard if you do things right!

We have also created actual demo plantations on several acting farms in Odesa and Kyiv regions of Ukraine. There we show our students how to propagate, grow, cater to, harvest, pack etc. various crops - strawberry, salads and herbs, commercial flowers (tullips, chrysantemums etc) and stone fruit trees (apple, pear, plum trees etc).

Thanks to our key sponsor's funding, we have been able to cover the teaching and demo plantations' part.

We lack funding for the next stage: we want to give the best and most eager students means for starting their micro-farming business. Specifically: each micro farming "startup" would receive a package with planting/seeding material, fertilizers, some tools etc. plus a 'training' and 'consultancy" package to guide them through their first farming season. We estimate such package to be around $800 and we want to hand out 20 such packages to 20 new farmer families. We are planning a contest among our students and award the best 20 based on their performance during the course.

I have enslosed screenshots of our actual video lessons with various teachers, meetings in local communities to promote our Initiative, and some shots from our demo plantations.

Here are links to the project page and Telegram channel where we communicate with our students - for you to check out:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61568832658511&mibextid=ZbWKwL

https://t.me/freeborscht

If you like the cause and would like to support it - see first comment to this post.

72 years ago today, died the bloodiest tyrant in human history - Joseph Stalin. One restaurant in Washington DC gave eve...
05/03/2025

72 years ago today, died the bloodiest tyrant in human history - Joseph Stalin. One restaurant in Washington DC gave every customer a free bowl of Ukrainian borscht on the occasion.

3 years ago in 2022, shortly after the incumbent dictator of Russia and Stalin wannabe invaded Ukraine, FreeBorsht Initiative was founded.

During these last 3 years, we provided tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees passing through or staying in Odesa, with fresh fruits and vegetables grown by local farmers. We also helped hundreds of said farmers and their families stay afloat and carry on with their small businesses despite the war.

Since November last year, in collaboration with Razom for Ukraine, FreeBorsht Initiative is also focused on helping many of these refugee families acquire new skills and profession in farming so they can grow their own food and sustain their families. This is what I've personally been focused on lately. We now have close to 400 participants some of (hopefully, many) which will end up opening their small farming businesses this year thanks to our program.

Today, March 5th 2025, is the day our very village has withstood the most devastating drone strike so far: dozens of homes destroyed completely, hundreds seriously damaged, gas pipelines and power transformers blown up, small shops burnt to the ground, several neighbors killed and more wounded. My very village. Place where my children live.

Aftermath of a devastating drone raid is not exactly conducive to marking an anniversary.

Still, I want to thank you all for your support and to remind you that another Stalin wannabe is still alive, the war is still on, people are still dying and initiatives like FreeBorsht Initiative are still helping people live.

Yours,

Alexander.

More bad news. Last night Odesa and the outskirts became the epicenter of another drone strike. We counted at least 12 p...
09/11/2024

More bad news. Last night Odesa and the outskirts became the epicenter of another drone strike. We counted at least 12 passing over, and two explosions as close as 300 meters.

One drone hit an apartment complex where we have done regular mass distributions of food boxes since beginning of the war. You can see "before" and "after" photos and compare for yourselves.

What's bad is this is one of the few (if not the only) large housing complexes outside of Odesa where thousands of displaced families could afford rent while living as a small community.

There are also rumors that these su***de drones are now being equipped with thermobaric cartridges instead of "regular" TNT for maximum damage, especially in closed spaces. You can see the scale of fire after the explosion.

I have put most disturbing video material in the comments.

30/10/2024

Sad news from our village.

Yesterday morning, shrapnel from air-to-surface missile killed an elderly man who was strolling down the street we live on.

The missile hit the port or was shot down - I don't know, and they don't tell.

The thing is - it's getting closer, the danger. Can't keep the kids at home at all times, can you.

PS The enemy has eased up on slow Shaheed drones but amped up missile strikes - ballistic, cruise, air-surface, what have you. Three air-surface missiles, one by one, hit something very close in the last 15 min.

07/10/2024

Important announcement.

FreeBorscht Initiative is joining a major effort to boost self-employment among internally displaced Ukrainians. In several weeks we will begin teaching our wards and interested local residents new professions in farming, growing, processing, marketing and selling edible plants.

This will help people learn new skills to provide themselves with healthier food and create supplemental income source for their families. Ultimately, this may well create several dozen new small farm businesses.

Details to follow soon.

We are not interrupting our regular activities: as always, we purchase fresh and processed produce from small local farmers, make food boxes and distribute them among vulnerable refugee families.

To all of our followers and donors: thank you for your support!

To donate to FreeBorscht Initiative - details are in the first comment to this post.

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Odessa

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