1989: A LOOK BACK: Ukrainian National Association (12/31/89)

1989: A LOOK BACK

Ukrainian National Association

This was the Ukrainian National Association's 95th anniversary year, and various events across the United States marked the jubilee. Foremost among them was a concert of Ukrainian music and dance at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall on September 17. The concert also marked the 40th anniversary of the Dumka Chorus of New York.

At the beginning of the year, the UNA donated $10,000 for relief efforts aimed at assisting Armenian earthquake victims. The donation was made in memory of the victims of the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear disaster, since, as UNA Supreme President John O. Flis pointed out "We could not help our brothers in Ukraine in 1986, but we can assist our brother Armenians today." The USSR, it should be recalled, had refused to accept the Ukrainian community's offers of assistance to Chornobyl victims.

In 1989, the UNA paid out $1 million in dividends to its members, and assets topped $64 million. The UNA Supreme Assembly at its annual meeting in May voted to give $67,000 in donations to Ukrainian causes and community groups. And, the UNA's Scholarship Committee awarded $118,200 in scholarships to 214 college and university students throughout North America.

During the year, the UNA sponsored U.S. tours by two groups from Poland: the Oslaviany Ukrainian Song and Dance Ensemble from the Lemko region in April and the Ukrainian Chamber Choir of Warsaw in October.

The Association of UNA Seniors held its annual conference at Soyuzivka in late May-early June and elected Eugene Woloshyn president.

Soyuzivka, now in the capable hands of manager John A. Flis, had a successful 36th summer season and in August, Lida Zaluckyj, 23, of the Bronx, N.Y., was selected as Miss Soyuzivka 1990.

Also new at the upstate New York resort were two buildings; the Sich building housing summer employees and the luxurious Karpaty lodge (formerly Yasinnia). Both were dedicated during the annual Father's Day festivities at Soyuzivka.

As the year drew to a close, all eyes were on the upcoming UNA convention scheduled to be held in May-June 1990 in Baltimore. A Convention Committee headed by Supreme Advisor Eugene Iwanciw and encompassing some 45 volunteers from the Baltimore-Washington area, was busy preparing the way.

The UNA's Washington Office, with its three-person staff of Mr. Iwanciw, director, John Kun, assistant director, and Maria Lischak, secretary, began the year by distributing packets of information about Ukraine and Ukrainian Americans to all members of Congress on January 3, the first full day of the 101st Congress. Soon afterwards, to underscore the democratic traditions of Ukraine, the office distributed copies of the historic Third Universal of the Ukrainian National Republic - which was officially published in four languages, Ukrainian, Russian, Polish and Yiddish - to each member of Congress.

When the United States Information Agency was planning an exhibit tour of the Soviet Union, the UNA office spearheaded efforts aimed at ensuring that information and personnel for the Ukrainian leg of the tour used the Ukrainian language. In July, the office briefed the 24 USIA guides who were to travel with the "Design U.S.A." exhibit.

The Washington Office also worked at length with the Immigration and Naturalization Service to acquaint officials there with the plight of Ukrainians in the USSR and Poland. In addition to submitting briefing papers, Mr. Iwanciw addressed INS personnel during a week-long training program in September.

The Washington Office was also involved in myriad issues concerning Ukraine and Ukrainians in the Congress and the executive branch of the U.S. government. Most notable among these was the issue of refugee status for Ukrainian Catholics and Ukrainian Orthodox from the USSR seeking admission into this country, as well as in securing funding for the U.S. Commission on the Ukraine Famine (see section on East-West Relations).

In addition, the office coordinated the schedule of Volodymyr Yavorivsky, Rukh activist and member of the USSR Congress of People's Deputies, when he twice visited the nation's capital.

And, finally, the office provided up-to-date information on all the doings in Washington.

Also in 1989, the UNA mourned the passing of some of its most active members, among them, UNA Supreme Advisor Roman Tatarsky (October 28), Wilkes-Barre District Chairman Wasyl Stefuryn (April 2), and Fraternalist of the Year for 1988 Lev Blonarovych (January 27).