Not Just “Dido’s” YHO Anymore…

By Slawko Borys

OK, in my case it still is Dido’s YHO because mine sits across from me at our executive meetings… In February 2008, I was elected as UNF Toronto Branch President, along with a mix of experienced as well as new committee members to the Branch Executive.

It is no secret that over the last few years, the membership within the UNF Toronto Branch, as well as many other Branches across Canada has been on the decline. So, as a newly elected executive committee, what do you do with an organization that is set in its ways, and has a declining membership base? You give it new life, a vision and a purpose; and that is exactly what I, along with the members of the 2008 Branch Executive plan to do.

Since February, we have been working on giving our Branch “Goals and Objectives” for 2008 that are both realistic and reflect the spirit and history of the UNF as a community organization. The goals are assigned to the various committee groups that form our executive and give them something to focus their activities on in order to achieve a common organizational objective.  By having one common vision for the entire organization, we have been able to focus our efforts, and with the help of our membership, we will be able to achieve what we have set out for this year.

One of our first tasks was to redefine our executive committee. We have created a new committee strictly devoted to community and social activity. The Cultural and Organizational committee will be tasked with rekindling the social and educational programs that have, in the last few years, been on the decline within our organization. The UNF should be a place where all of our membership, young or old, can go to have a sense of belonging and social connection. Our Cultural and Organizational committee will use the assets of our organization to develop a list of programming that is appropriate to both our current, as well as future and prospective members. Among these projects is the establishment of a Resource Centre for Ukrainian Education, monthly “Zabava” nights and membership social events such as the “Masters, Georgia on My Mind” event held earlier in April 2008. We have developed a calendar of events which is available to all our members, and at our Community Centre (the “Hall”) for anyone to pick up.

We, as an organization have some significant business interests and as such we have, as part of our Goals for 2008, begun to take a new approach to running these interests in a more professional, modern and appropriate manner. The strengthening of our business assets will support the cultural and organizational programs that we offer to our members and our community. We are adopting proper legal and financial approaches to managing the various business assets of the organization so that we can be financially responsible to our members, ensuring the sustainability of our organization and its programming.

None of the described work above can happen without the help and support of the members of the executive, and of the general membership. I think that the most important thing that we can do is communicate with our members on a regular basis, and keep them informed of everything that we are planning, doing and hope to do in the future. To that end, we have created an Organizational Display Table at our Community Centre which has information about our Branch, listings of all our events and meetings, as well as copies of our newsletters and other communications from the Executive. We have also introduced Quarterly Member’s Evenings where we invite our membership to join us for a light supper and discuss in an open forum the activities and new developments within the organization. The first such evening, held on May 1^st 2008 at 6:30 pm., the theme of the evening being “Meet your new Executive Committee and discuss the Goals and Objectives of 2008”.  A website will be launched in 2008 to communicate more effectively with our membership on a more frequent basis.

I started this article by meaning to say “It isn’t your Dido’s YHO anymore”, but really, I suppose we are getting back to the basics of the organization, only using a modern approach. Our success will only be measured by the response of our membership, and by the growth of our organization, and this above all is the primary objective of the 2008 UNF Toronto Branch Executive.

Everyone is invited, current and prospective members, to step into our UNF “Hall”, visit UNF Camp Sokil (in Hawkestone) and take part in the many programs and activities that we will be hosting this year. Help us to make 2008 the year Ukrainian Canadian culture and spirit was renewed not just in Toronto, but also beyond its environs, and remains strong across Canada.