Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund holds third national convention (09/28/97)

Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund holds third national convention

by Roma Hadzewycz

EAST HANOVER, N.J. - The Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund held its third national convention here during the weekend of September 13-14 with 45 delegates from 10 chapters participating and pledging to continue the mission of helping victims of the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear accident.

The convention featured an address by Ukraine's ambassador the United States, Dr. Yuri Shcherbak; panel presentations on a variety of topics, ranging from women's and children's health in Ukraine to a session on public relations and marketing geared toward helping CCRF chapters succeed in their work; and a banquet attended by nearly 250 people during which special awards were presented to chapters, individual activists and supporters of the CCRF's work.

It was an occasion also to announce a major contribution: an unrestricted gift of $350,000 from John Deere & Co., $250,000 of which will be used by the CCRF to establish an endowment fund. A portion of these funds will be used also for the relief organization's 19th airlift of medical supplies and equipment which is due to leave for Ukraine in November, as well as to support the CCRF's Women's and Children's Health Initiative in the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine whose first sponsor was the Monsanto Co.

Delegates to the biennial convention - who came from CCRF chapters in Hartford, New Haven and Danbury, Conn.; Buffalo, Rochester and Hudson Valley, N.Y.; Newark and Bound Brook, N.J.; Chicago and Boston - elected a new 14-member board of directors. The board of directors met immediately after the convention's adjournment on Sunday afternoon and elected Orest Dubno, who has served on the CCRF board since 1993, as its chairman. Mr. Dubno, who also served as chair of the 1997 convention, is chief financial officer for the Lex-Atlantic Corp., a shipping and international trade corporation based in New Haven, Conn. (See sidebar for information on the new CCRF board of directors.)

The convention heard greetings and expressions of support from Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) and State Sen. Jim McGreevey, who is also mayor of Woodbridge, N.J., and is the Democratic Party's candidate for governor of New Jersey. Gov. Christine Todd Whitman sent a representative, Frank Maske of the Governor's Office of Volunteerism, to deliver a message of support.

Also addressing the convention were: Yuri Bohaievsky, deputy representative of Ukraine to the United Nations; Corbin Harney, spiritual leader of the Western Shoshone Nation; Maria Drach, president of the Zhinocha Hromada, a national women's organization in Ukraine; and Dr. Olga Bobyliova of Ukraine's Ministry of Health.

The convention was officially opened by Dr. Zenon Matkiwsky, president of the CCRF, who reviewed the fund's recent accomplishments and encouraged chapters to continue fulfilling its mission of saving the lives of children who suffer as a result of the world's worst nuclear accident.

Ukraine's ambassador speaks

In his address during the convention's opening session, Ambassador Shcherbak stated: "All of us present here are united by Chornobyl, the worst technogenic environmental disaster of the 20th century, which took place in Ukraine 11 years ago, but which has scorched all nations in the world, leaving no one indifferent. For a catastrophe of this scale there are no boundaries, no political or national barriers. The Chornobyl catastrophe is like a cancerous tumor on the bodies of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia with many metastases in a number of other countries such as Poland, Lithuania, Sweden, Germany, Great Britain, Turkey, Georgia and others."

The ambassador, who is known for his work as both a physician and a writer, was one of the first to visit the area around the stricken Chornobyl nuclear power plant soon after the April 26, 1986, disaster.

"Being here today with you," he continued, "I feel very emotional, as Ukraine will never forget you, those who do a lot of good for Ukraine, who save the children, our common future. The Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund is a small miracle of our big and sometimes cruel world, a miracle of kindness created by highly dedicated people, like the charming Nadia Matkiwsky, the vigorous Zenon Matkiwsky, the wise Alex Kuzma and the smart Ksenia Kyzyk, who have devoted their lives to this noble course.

"On behalf of the Ukrainian government, I wish the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund every success, and to its members - sound health, inspiration and good luck. Let me express also our gratitude to President Bill Clinton, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, the government and Congress of the U.S., and the American people for their outstanding efforts to rescue the victims of Chornobyl. May God bless you in your noble endeavors," he concluded.

Later, during the Saturday afternoon luncheon, Ambassador Shcherbak presented certificates of honor in recognition of "contributions to strengthening ties between Ukraine and the United States" to Dr. Matkiwsky and his wife, Nadia Matkiwsky, CCRF executive director; the Hartford chapter of the CCRF; Joseph Vena, outgoing chairman of the CCRF board; and Orest Fedash, general manager of the Ramada Hotel and Conference Center.

Life in post-Chornobyl Ukraine

Also during the luncheon, Dr. Bobyliova, chief of the Chornobyl-Related Medical Problems Division at the Ministry of Health, offered a synopsis of the dire statistics that characterize post-Chornobyl life in Ukraine: 80 percent of Ukraine's population suffers as a result of the accident; 90 percent of the country's children are unhealthy and 60 percent have serious illnesses. "Since World War II," she underscored, "there has been no bigger or more disastrous catastrophe than Chornobyl."

Dr. Bobyliova returned to the podium during the first of four panel presentations held during the convention, "Strategies for Improving Infant Survival in Ukraine," moderated by Dr. Matkiwsky. Dr. James Hagen of the Benedictine University Public Health Program spoke of his experiences with the public education outreach program in Dnipropetrovsk, which is geared toward helping pregnant women and women of child-bearing age. Joyce Major of the department of nursing education, and Loisanne McKenna, director of nursing-pediatric services, both of Saint Barnabas Medical Center, focused on methods to combat infant mortality and how these could be applied in Ukraine.

Dr. Lyudmyla Porokhnyak Hanovska of the Institute of Radiology in Kyiv offered information on infectious diseases, blood disorders and other maladies that affect Ukraine's population today, while Mr. Harney spoke of radiation's impact on the native American population and the hazards of uranium mining and continuing nuclear bomb tests at the Nevada Test Site.

"Corporate Outreach: Taping the Resources Within and Beyond our Community" was the title of the panel chaired by Mr. Dubno. Panelists - John Caruso of Goldenbarr Inc., Paul Speaker of NFL Properties, the Rev. Luke Mihaly of Holy Trinity Orthodox Church of Danbury, Conn., and Alex Kuzma, CCRF's director of development - shared ideas and provided concrete examples on how to approach the corporate world for support of charitable activities and how to maintain that involvement.

The third panel of the day, "Empowering Our Partners: Fostering Dialogue Related to PVO/NGO Partnerships" was devoted to highlighting the work of private volunteer organizations and non-governmental organizations with an emphasis on networking and cooperation toward a common goal. The presentation brought together Mrs. Drach, Dr. Hagen, Irene Lasota of the Institute for Democracy in Eastern Europe, Natalie Belzer of the Pylyp Orlyk Institute and Olga Stawnychy, who serves as NGO representative to UNICEF for the World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations. Acting as moderator was Irene Jarosewich, staff reporter for The Ukrainian Weekly.

A presentation on "Keeping Chornobyl in the Public Eye: Public Relations and Marketing" was held as the concluding session of the convention. Chaired by Mr. Speaker, the panel offered a practical approach on how to "break barriers" in order to tell the compelling story of Chornobyl and its aftereffects, and how to make the children of Chornobyl relevant to those outside the Ukrainian community. The presenters were Martin Savidge, anchor and correspondent for CNN's "Early Edition" program; Andrew Melnykovych, environmental reporter for the Louisville Courier-Journal of Kentucky; Paula Hunchar, director of development for "Jazz 88," WBGO Radio in Newark, N.J.; and Tom Hawrylko of Tom-a-Hawk Promotions based in Clifton, N.J.

After the panel presentation, which was augmented by lively audience participation, Mr. Melnykovych showed slides from his 1996 trip to Ukraine which resulted in a highly successful five-part series of articles on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster. The series was published by his newspaper and disseminated by the Gannett News Service to at least 20 newspapers, including USA Today, which has 2 million readers. The photographs for the series and the slides shown at the convention were the work of Jim Wilson of Gannett, who was assigned to the story along with Mr. Melnykovych.

During brunch on Sunday, convention participants also heard a concise update on the foreign aid bill now before the U.S. Congress. Michael Sawkiw Jr., director of the Ukrainian National Information Service, noted that tough negotiations lie ahead between the House and Senate conferees who have to agree on a final version of the bill. He also spoke about the growth of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus, which now has approximately 20 members.

Banquet: thank-yous and motivation

The convention banquet provided an opportunity for the CCRF to recognize its dedicated volunteers and to present special awards to supporters of its cause.

After the invocation was delivered by Archbishop Antony of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. and an ecumenical prayer was offered in English and in his native Shoshone language by Mr. Harbin, the audience heard greetings from State Sen. McGreevey and Mr. Bohaievsky of Ukraine's Permanent Mission to the U.N., and viewed a video message from Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.).

A video of the CCRF's relief work set the stage for the awards that followed, as the footage included scenes from the organization's 1992 humanitarian aid mission, which was covered by that evening's principal honoree, Mr. Savidge. While still at WJW-TV in Cleveland, the television news reporter had flown on the giant Mria cargo plane with the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund's airlift from Columbus, Ohio, to Ukraine, and later prepared a five-part news report on that mission.

Mr. Savidge was honored for his work as a news correspondent, as well as for his continuing support of the CCRF, which he and his wife, Blis, have designated as their charity of choice along with the National Osteoporosis Foundation.

In the banquet's keynote address Mr. Savidge movingly recalled his first visit to Ukraine where he saw "a hospital filled with hundreds, probably thousands of children of Chornobyl. ... You could see that they were not well, ... that they were terrified because they didn't know what the future held," he said.

Mr. Savidge, who now anchors CNN's morning news show, said he saw his trip with the CCRF airlift as "a chance to help." He described how the much-needed medical supplies were distributed to hospitals and noted the irony inherent in the fact that one hospital kept Chornobyl relief supplies locked in a former nuclear bomb shelter.

Two of Chornobyl's children - both of whom came to this country in 1990 - were next to take center stage to thank all CCRF donors via word and song. Vova Malofienko, 12, whose leukemia is now in remission, delivered a brief message of thanks to all who support the work of the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund. Maria Kavatsiuk, once a pre-leukemic baby and today a healthy 7-year-old, sang "The Wind Beneath my Wings" ("Did you ever know that you're my hero...") and then delivered big hugs to Dr. and Mrs. Matkiwsky. It was Dr. Matkiwsky who personally brought Maria at the age of 6 months to the United States for treatment. Maria was accompanied on keyboards by her proud father, Vasyl, one of thousands assigned to do hazardous clean-up work at the Chornobyl plant.

Special achievement awards were then presented. The Chapter of the Year Award went to the Hartford branch of the CCRF, which raised over $100,000 in the past year, and was accepted by Nadia Haftkowycz and Michael Matiash. Also honored were: Olena Bodnarskyj and the Ukrainian Students Club at the University of Buffalo; Prof. Wolodymyr and Oksana Bakum of Highland, N.Y.; and Messrs. Fedash and Vena.

As neither Sen. Lautenberg nor Rep. Christopher Smith (R-N.J.) could be present that evening, CCRF spokespersons said they would be presented awards recognizing their efforts on the Chornobyl issue at a later date in Washington.

The banquet ended with a benediction delivered by Msgr. Joseph Fedorek of the Ukrainian Catholic Church.

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