MULTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION OF BOSNIAN SENIORS AND THEIR FRIENDS

The idea of forming a multi-ethnic Bosnian group was initiated by Julia Huterer, a settlement counsellor at COSTI Immigrant Services, who organized the first informal meeting of Bosnian immigrants in November 2003. There were over 20 people in attendance, a majority of who were seniors from Bosnia and Herzegovina and other parts of former Yugoslavia. Everyone felt that we should continue meeting, with the goal to help each other, share experiences, socialize, obtain and exchange information and explore new possibilities for faster integration into Canadian society.

The group quickly grew to over 70 people, and in March of 2005, Social Development Canada under the New Horizons for Seniors Program, gave us seed money for the project entitled " A community approach to reducing isolation of Bosnian seniors and their friends”. This prompted us to become a registered non-profit organization called the “Multicultural Association of Bosnian Seniors and their Friends”, aimed to represent and help those vulnerable and isolated seniors, most of whom have a limited knowledge of the English language and are experiencing cultural, emotional and financial hardships.

In January of 2007, we received a second grant from Social Development Canada for the “Promotion of Bosnian Multicultural Heritage: Seniors Sharing the Knowledge” allowing us to start the development of new projects such as Bosnian Community Garden, Bosnian Choir and Bosnian Heritage workshops.

The Association now has 200 members and holds meetings on the second Saturday of each month, from 10am -1pm, at COSTI Corvetti Education Centre, located at 760 College Street, Toronto.

For more information and how to join us please contact:

President: Julia Srebrenka Huterer 416-534-7400/223 jhuterer@costi.org

Program Director: Branko Nesterovic 416-236-5550 branes2004@rogers.com

Volunteer Co-ordinator: Rajka Straus 416- 391-2751 bakarajka@hotmail.com

Garden Co-ordinator: Zora Ignjatovic 416-463-9031 artdecos@rogers.com

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