As the population ages, it’s no secret that many of Australia’s Greek community associations are struggling to keep numbers up and maintain their relevance among younger generations.
But John Vithoulkas, treasurer of Melbourne’s Olympian Society, is trying to change that.
“I was looking to give back a little bit to the Greek community, so I joined the Olympian Society maybe a couple of years ago. But then the question was raised of why we don’t have any young people,” he tells Neos Kosmos.
In a forum held earlier this year to help address the matter, the 36-year-old says it became apparent that while the first generation of Greek Australians wanted to meet up based on their former geographical location in Greece, second, third and fourth generation Greek Australians are keen to keep things local, and gather with other Greeks based on where they live in Australia.
“All the clubs are organised based on Greek geographic location, but people such as myself, I’ve got a Pontian friend, a Cretan friend; we don’t say ‘you’re Cretan I don’t hang around with you’,” he explains.
“We think it applied really well to them, but doesn’t really apply to Greeks who have been born and raised here who speak English.”
In response to this discovery, Mr Vithoulkas is taking the next step in Melbourne’s north, organising a meeting for representatives from each Greek club in the area to come together (there are 55 on the north side alone), meet one another, and discuss the future.
“As a base short-term thing, we want the clubs from the northern suburbs to know each other, because at the moment every club sort of organises its own things and no one knows what any other club is doing,” he tells.
What the forum also concluded, sadly, was that if you’re not already a member of a club and want to find out about an event, you’d be hard pressed to find the details if not listed in a community paper.
“So what I’d like is some sort of coordination for the clubs to just know each other and sort of have one page, one Facebook page, where events would go up and we could have at least awareness of what each club is doing.”
If all goes well with the meeting, Mr Vithoulkas’ long-term vision is for the groups to work towards greater synergy, but he admits that “it sort of depends on how the clubs feel about it”.
“If you can get everyone thinking about it together, there might be a good idea about how to attract people. Possibly in the future there might be some key locations and you do things together. Although I can’t really say that, because it’s not my club, I think that’s the way it’ll go eventually,” he says.
Other ideas for attracting younger members included thinking beyond the annual dinner dance to other activities such as Greek storytime for kids to attract young families, which commenced last month, as well as cooking classes.
“The xorous (dances) were probably for people who only spoke Greek and felt marginalised and it was a safe place for them.
“That’s all well and good, and I’m happy for them to keep doing that. But if the kids and grandkids aren’t doing anything, then within a generation you lose that Greekness and you lose that whole aspect to your identity, which is quite rich.”
The meeting for the Greek clubs of Melbourne’s north will take place on Tuesday 26 July at Olympians House, 317 Victoria Rd, Thornbury, VIC at 7.00 pm. For more information, email theolympiansociety@gmail.com or call John Vithoulkas (after hours) on 0411 101 160.