What?
This is an organisation which was established in Ukraine in 1925 and has existed for almost 80 years. Today it has about 6000 members world-wide, including Ukraine, America, Argentina, Canada, Belgium, Germany, France, Great Britain and of course Australia. In Australia CYM was officially re-established in 1950 with the arrival of our parents and grandparents to this country as refugees.

There are branches in Melbourne, Geelong, Sydney, Newcastle, Canberra, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

What are the aims of 'CYM'?
CYM is a youth organisation for children and young people of Ukrainian origin, from 4 years, but also caters for all age groups. It organises a wide variety of activities for its members, which provide opportunities for self development, character building, leadership skills and the formation of life- long friendships.

The activities are designed to promote Ukrainian and Christian values under the credo of God and Ukraine. CYM tries to instil values which will assist in developing a young person to be cognisant and proud of his or her heritage, to be honest, fair, just and reliable so that they can be good citizens not only in the Ukrainian Community but also in the wider Australian Community.

Essentially we provide our members an opportunity to feel Ukrainian far from Ukraine.

What activities are provided in CYM?
Here in Melbourne, members of CYM between 4-17 years meet for youth group activities every Tuesday, beginning at 6 o'clock, each person is attached to a group with between 5-12 members of a similar age. Their youth leader provides them with both educational and recreational activities and much play for younger children. Our recreational program includes hikes in the bush and other activities such as pysanka painting with our like minded sister organisation Plast.

On the same evening cultural activities are also provided in the form of Ukrainian folk dancing through the CYM Dance Ensemble Verchovyna which has existed for more than 30 years. You can join from 4 years of age and stay till you are 25 or older if you really want to keep going. CYM also has a choir Cheremosh, which was established nearly 25 years ago. This choir provides an opportunity for older youth and more senior members of our organisation to participate together in learning and singing Ukrainian songs in a pleasant atmosphere.

Our cultural groups often participate in various Ukrainian concerts, festivals and celebrations as well as appearing in front of audiences outside of the community. Sometimes they travel interstate and have also appeared outside of Australia.

We also have family days for all our members like the yearly commemoration of our patron St Michael in November and CYM month and Youth Day in May of each year. Other days like sports days and family picnics are designed to bring families together to enjoy the outdoors and each others company in a more relaxed environment.

Camps
Every year CYM organises summer camps often on a national basis.

The Melbourne Branch of CYM has its own property in the Cathedral Ranges in Buxton. We call this property 'Karpaty', after the name of the Ukrainian mountains, the Carpathians.

The camps provide a great environment for children and young people of various ages to live together, share their heritage and undertake many interesting activities, including educational seminars, sport, hikes, leadership activities, camp fires, singing, dancing and concerts.