UNA executives hold post-convention meeting (08/23/98)

UNA executives hold post-convention meeting

by Martha Lysko

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - The first post-convention meeting of the Executive Committee of the Ukrainian National Association was held on Saturday, August 8, at the UNA Home Office. Ulana Diachuk, UNA president, warmly greeted and congratulated the newly elected executive committee.

In attendance were: Stefko Kuropas, first vice-president; the Rev. Myron Stasiw, director for Canada; Martha Lysko, national secretary; Stefan Kaczaraj, treasurer; and the chairman of the Auditing Committee, William Pastuszek. Anya Dydyk-Petrenko, second vice-president, was unable to attend.

The participants of the Executive Committee's quarterly meeting heard reports for the first half of 1998 and closely examined all membership gains and losses. The pre-convention membership campaign netted 79 new applications for total annual premiums of $13,684.48. The UNA is still looking to increase membership. At the same time, the pool of willing and capable organizers is dwindling, and they must be replaced with a new sales force.

At the end of June, 22,000 letters were sent from the Home Office to all members who have life insurance policies with the UNA. The letter briefly informed the members about convention resolutions regarding the increase in fraternal dues and the decrease in subscription prices for the UNA's two newspapers. In the same mailing the UNA introduced a new membership package that offers a discount card for members. As part of its fraternal benefits, the UNA paid nearly $100,000 in annual premiums for 2,170 UNA members who are age 79 and older.

As previously reported, the Ukrainian Fraternal Association at its quadrennial convention in June rejected the proposed merger agreement with the UNA and decided to continue existing independently. Although the Ukrainian National Association was prepared to meet most of the UFA's requirements and was looking forward to this unity, it will now concentrate on expansion of its own membership. The UNA plans to offer new financial and fraternal services to all its members within a year.

The executives also discussed the work of the Investment Committee and reviewed the UNA's current investment policy versus Insurance Department guidelines.

Losses on both UNA publications have been curtailed due to outsourcing of printing operations and the changeover of the Svoboda daily to a weekly. Since the decrease in subscription fees for both Svoboda and The Ukrainian Weekly, the newspapers have gained some subscribers. At the same time, all expenses have been lowered.

Personnel changes on Svoboda's editorial staff also were discussed. Editor-in-Chief Zenon Snylyk retired, and Serhiy Myroniuk is temporarily coordinating the editorial staff's work. The UNA is currently looking for an editor-in-chief for Svoboda.

The following information also was reported at the Executive Committee meeting.

The Ukrainian National Urban Renewal Corp. showed a profit of $66,000 for the first half of 1998.
Soyuzivka cannot be evaluated fully until after the summer season concludes, and the decision on whether to keep it open or close it for part of the year is still under discussion.
It will take at least a full year to have a complete picture of the UNA's financial gains.
In accordance with a resolution of the recent UNA convention, the UNA will hire an outside consultant to review all UNA operations.
The Scholarship Committee met on June 29 and granted $52,550 in scholarships to 195 recipients, which was reported in the UNA's newspapers. A special scholarship edition of The Ukrainian Weekly will be published later this year.

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