At the Plast camp Novyi Sokil, located just outside of Buffalo, N.Y., the mood is bittersweet.
On one hand, the campgrounds are stirring with new life. Against the backdrop of a late-to-arrive spring, the sound of power tools could be heard. Workers were putting the final touches on new barracks that would be used to house “novatstvo” (cub scouts) during the annual summer camps. There was a quiet sense of urgency in the air, as the first occupants of the new building – attendees of the counselor training camp – would arrive in mere days.
Roman Melnyk
The late Marian Stasiuk, former board chairman of the Regional Camp Committee of Novyi Sokil, who was recognized for his lifetime of service to the campground.
On the other hand, board members of the Regional Camp Committee (Okruzhna Taborova Komisia, or OTK), which is responsible for maintaining and operating Novyi Sokil, are somber. The reason is that their colleague and senior member, former chairman and luminary, Marian “Mako” Stasiuk, passed away suddenly on May 25. “It is a great loss,” says chairman Danylo Butenko. “Druh Mako’s presence is felt throughout Novyi Sokil, given his decades of tireless involvement in day-to-day operations and his spearheading of many building projects. His institutional knowledge was vast. His passing leaves us with big shoes to fill.”
In 2020, Novyi Sokil will celebrate its 70th anniversary. In view of that milestone, OTK Novyi Sokil launched a capital fund-raising campaign last year to raise $500,000 for replacing three buildings that have reached the end of their useful lives: the barracks, a medical and administration building, and a pool house. The goal of the multi-year campaign is to complete the fund-raising and most, if not all, of the work by the 70th anniversary.
To date, the capital campaign has reached approximately one-third of its goal. The collected funds have facilitated construction of the new barracks through the winter and spring months of 2018-2019. The new building is larger than its predecessor and can accommodate burgeoning numbers of scouts. It also boasts a larger porch area to better support rainy day activities.
With construction of the first building nearly complete, the focus will soon shift to replacing the medical/administration building. The estimated cost for this project is $225,000. The building will house medical facilities, including patient rooms, a bathroom with a shower, and accommodations for both medical and administrative staff.
“The proposed building construction projects will replace the camp’s aging infrastructure in order to enable the camp to continue to provide our children with a memorable and fulfilling Ukrainian scouting experience,” states board member Paul Bohdan Iskalo, who chairs the building committee. “Periodic investments like these are needed to meet that objective.”
Statistically, capital fund-raising campaigns tend to benefit most from personal donations. This poses a challenge for Novyi Sokil, since the number of people with recent ties to the campground is not as large as for other Plast camp locations. Fortunately, nostalgia for Novyi Sokil runs deep. “Virtually everyone who has spent any time at Novyi Sokil comes away with fond memories,” says Mr. Butenko. “A common refrain is that friends made at Sokil become friends for life. There is just something magical about this place.”
Accordingly, the challenge is reaching all those who have experienced that magic at some point in Novyi Sokil’s history and have merely lost contact with the camp over the years.
For the short term, attention is focused on another year of summer camps. OTK board member Peter Tiutiunnyk, who is head of operations, had hands full overseeing preparations for the summer season, including plumbing and machinery repairs, landscaping work and kitchen appliance maintenance, among other tasks. These are projects that, not too long ago, were overseen by his late colleague Marian Stasiuk.
Says Mr. Tiutiunnyk, “I take comfort in Druh Mako’s recent comment to me to the effect that Novyi Sokil appears to be in good hands with the current board. Coming from him, that is high praise as well as a solemn commitment. I hope that we can live up to his high standards. We owe it to his memory to see through our plans for improving Novyi Sokil.”
Donations to the fund-raising campaign continue to be accepted. All donors will be memorialized on a web-based electronic list. Donors contributing higher amounts will also be honored on a physical donors’ wall to be erected at the campground, in the following tiers: bronze ($500-$2,499), silver ($2,500-$4,999), gold ($5,000-$9,999) and platinum ($10,000 and over). For more information about the fund-raising campaign, readers may visit www.novyisokil.org or contact Peter Elyjiw, OTK fund-raising committee chair, at [email protected].