Dear friends,

Just a few months after the River Youth Group was founded, we had a big idea to have our first party early this summer. The thought behind it was simple: we wanted to meet, socialize, make connections and build a network of other young adults in our community. On the day of the party, Saturday June 23rd, nearly 50 young adults attended. We were amazed. Our impression is that we have successfully taken the first step towards building a bright future for this community. We would like to walk together towards the realization of this. Our efforts stem from our love for the community, and the more of us join in our efforts, our efforts will be more powerful and thus the community greater.

At the party we all enjoyed a great program that was spontaneous and natural, despite being carefully planned. We would like to thank all those who supported us and our initiative in any way. Our Initial Committee first and foremost gratefully acknowledges: Aleksandra Trklja, Ana Radunović and Jelena Mišur, for the tremendous efforts they have invested in organizing this memorable evening, as well as Ivana Radunović who masterfully MC’ed the entire program.

For great technical support, we owe special thanks to Zoran and Iva Pivalica, who selflessly took the time and did not spare their effort eve on the non-working days to make the program designed, then recorded and technically fit for projection. At the same time we thank Zoran Pivalica for the delivery of all the equipment thanks to which this great event is perpetuated, and to Veselin Bjelakovic for his expertise in recording and later technically processing every detail.

We would like to thank all those who participated in the program, especially Novak Novaković, Ranko Savić, Sofija Kotarac, Pavle Kotarac, Bosko Ninković, Aleksandra Derman for their wonderful words, messages and invitations to our future joint efforts and socializing events. Here is a link to where you can view <a href=”https://youtu.be/1VlUd2UP7es” rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>Youth video</a>. We extend equal gratitude to Dragan Savić, Nemanja Mišur and Dejan Tolj for technical and organizational help and support. We also owe thanks to our church’s new music band that officially got together due to this evening, which surprised us and entertained us by performing several songs in honor of those who were present. For that, our special gratitude goes to Dragan Eskić and Siniša Cvetković. We are most grateful to all those who, with their presence, magnified and supported this unique evening.

It was our great joy that we had the opportunity to welcome our guest speaker Father Theodore Paraskevopoulos, a priest from the Greek Metropolis of Toronto. We are particularly grateful for the great messages for us young people that we had the opportunity to hear that evening. Here is a link to where you can listen to Father Ted’s podcast: <a href=”http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/frtedtalks” rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/frtedtalks</a>.

We also thank the numerous and generous sponsors of the evening, who donated very generous gifts:Scout Café Restaurant, Stoney Creek ON

  • Flamingo’s Restaurant & Bar, Toronto ON
  • Etno Bar & Grill, Hamilton ON
  • Mosaic Tour Consultants, Toronto ON
  • AE Serbian Events, Toronto ON
  • Samsung, Canada, VP, Vlastimir Lalovic

Dear friends, this wonderful evening is an indicator, first of all to ourselves, that the initiatives we young people are launching have great power. This places a certain responsibility in front of us. Our desire is to continue building friendships and bridges, first of all in our homes and our wider community, bridges which we hope will be solid and lasting and will serve as a basis for further up building of ourselves and our community in the future. We also use this opportunity to invite all of our peers (18-30 years): join us in our further socializing and new plans and surprises. Let’s try to always be a surprise to each other! Let’s be together!

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