For a number of years CYM has faced a growing crisis, as stores of the organization's dress uniform have become increasingly depleted.
Today, most parts of the uniform have become difficult or impossible to obtain, and sumivtsi in most oseredky have become accustomed to handing down uniforms from one child to another as they are outgrown, in an effort to recycle the precious commodity.
Since the last Svitovyj Congress CYM, the Svitova Uprava has undertaken to find a solution to this increasingly critical shortage. It had recently signed a contract with a Canadian clothing manufacturer to produce several thousand shirts, skirts and dress pants, but after oseredky in several countries protested the high prices that these uniforms would incur, the Canadian order was canceled and a new effort to find a less expensive solution was undertaken.
Just this month a unique new project to solve the shortage was approved by the Svitova Uprava. As was reported widely in the Ukrainian press, in early 2005 the newly formed Yushchenko government was beginning its push to erradicate various forms of corruption involving illegal smuggling through Ukrainian ports. Officials conducted searches of numerous storage facilities in all of the nation's port cities. One unexpected result of these searches, at a government-owned warehouse in the port of Odesa, was the
discovery of a long abandoned large cache of approximatley 50 thousand naval uniforms dating back to the Ukrainian Fleet of circa 1918. The uniforms are in surprisingly good repair despite having been in storage for so many decades.
The Ukrainian government has begun offering the antique sailors' uniforms for approximately 10 hryvnias (less than $2 USD) per complete set, in
lots of one thousand. Factoring in the costs of repairing some damaged articles, replacing buttons and removing official naval insignia, it was determined that the total cost per uniform can be capped at approximately $3 per complete set. CYM's Svitova Uprava has signed a contract with the Port Authority of Odesa to purchase 5000 uniforms, to be shipped to Toronto (the national headquarters of CYM in Canada) by August of this year, for use as a next-generation CYM uniform. From there, they will be shipped to oseredky around the world. A meeting of all National Executives was called in mid February by Myroslava Pidhirnyj to approve the required change in uniform color and form, and a revised Pravylnyk Yunatstva will be printed by year end containing an updated uniform description. Taking into account shipping and handling costs, CYM members should expect to pay approximately $8 to $10 per uniform, to be available in most countries in early September (most likely in November in Australia, because of customs and tariff issues). Orders, which must be placed before April 30, and all inquiries should be sent to odnostroji@cym.org.
