THE UKRAINIAN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FORUM (03/05/00)

THE UKRAINIAN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FORUM

Only growth in membership will guarantee the UNA's future

by Ulana Diachuk
UNA President

For many years the Ukrainian American and Ukrainian Canadian communities were the beneficiaries of extensive financial largess of the Ukrainian National Association: support for two newspapers, Svoboda and The Ukrainian Weekly, and the children's magazine Veselka; ownership of the year-round resort Soyuzivka; publication of many books in Ukrainian and in English; scholarships for student members; and donations to numerous Ukrainian organizations that extended into many millions of dollars. In order to sustain the same level of support in the future, the UNA must increase its membership and the insurance premiums it derives from its insurance business.

The daily agenda of the members of the Executive Committee includes concern for a steady growth in membership, for the leadership of the 260 branches located in many states of the United States and several Canadian provinces, for well trained organizers and branch secretaries who would actively be signing up new members.

As we have announced recently in the press, the UNA has introduced new insurance plans with premiums that are 20 to 40 percent lower in comparison to those in effect before and with much higher age limits. These new plans compare very favorably with similar policies offered by many commercial insurance companies. This fact will be discussed in our future articles. The UNA is continuing to hold special courses for the branch secretaries, officers of branches and persons interested in organizing members for the UNA with the intention of acquainting them with the new insurance products.

We expect that branch secretaries and organizers will contact present UNA members, who hold small policies, and will offer their services to help them increase their insurance coverage with the UNA. New times demand increased insurance protection and our new insurance products can offer a variety of plans to suit any need at very reasonable and competitive rates.

We ask our members to consider increasing their insurance coverage and to allow our branch secretaries to help them choose a plan.

In our fraternal system not only branch officers or organizers can sign up members; every member can sign up another member. The best prospects for new members are relatives, friends and acquaintances of present members. Members know best what family changes, like marriages and births, have taken place. By signing up their family members they help them join our community.

Our members belong to many church or civic organizations where they meet others who are not UNA members. It is very important to tell them about the UNA and its fraternal benefits, and to offer them help in joining our organization. There are many ways and means to help the UNA grow in membership.

Any questions regarding the amount of insurance, what type of coverage to choose, what premium to expect, etc., should be directed to the branch secretary. If his/her name and telephone number is not readily available, members or prospects can call the Home Office at the toll free number 1 (800) 253-9862 and ask for Stefko Woch. He will be very happy to serve members with all information requested.

The UNA is also seeking persons interested in learning about the life insurance business and in becoming successful organizers of new members. All these inquiries also should be directed to the above given telephone number.

Zenon Bodnarskyj, leader in Buffalo community, dies

by John Riszko

BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Ukrainian community in the greater Buffalo area was dealt a great blow with the passing, on February 15, of one of its most energetic and dedicated leaders, Zenon Bodnarskyj, who died at age 62 after a long illness.

He was born in the Ternopil region of Ukraine, and after the resettlement of Ukrainian refugees from Germany he moved with his family to Venezuela, where he lived for seven years before emigrating to Buffalo.

Mr. Bodnarskyj married Maria Chomen, and together they raised two children, Olena and Roman. The Bodnarskyjs were consistently devoted in their active and creative participation in Buffalos Ukrainian community. Their love for their Ukrainian heritage earned them the respect of Ukrainians and Americans alike.

Mr. Bodnarskyj set the highest standard for community service in the way he responded to the needs of Ukrainians. He had a great sense of duty before his beleaguered homeland and was always first to respond to the needs of his community and his beloved Ukraine. Most recently he was the head of the Buffalo District Committee of the Ukrainian National Association. For many years Mr. Bodnarskyj was a leader in Plast. He was active also in the patriarchal movement of the Ukrainian Catholic Church.

In the 1970s Mr. Bodnarskyj founded the Buffalo branch of Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine. In response to the great miscarriage of justice that marked the case of John Demjaniuk, it was Mr. Bodnarskyj who mobilized the Ukrainian American community of the greater Buffalo area in battling this nefarious plot to pervert the historical record of Ukrainians during the horrors of World War II.

In the late 1980s, when the suffering and destruction of Ukrainians reached a new level of meaning with Chornobyl, Mr. Bodnarskyj formed the Buffalo's chapter of the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund, not only to commemorate this tragedy annually, but to raise funds for its relief. He would call upon his family and friends to work and organize banquets at which funds were raised for medical aid and equipment to help the victims of Chornobyl. At the 10th anniversary commemorations of the Chornobyl disaster the Buffalo Ukrainian community, under the inspired leadership of Mr. Bodnarskyj, raised over $15,000 for the CCRF.

The Revs. Marian Procyk and Stepan Kuklich officiated at the funeral service held at St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church, where the bereaved family of Mr. Bodnarskyj, including his mother, Frania Bodnarskyj, were offered spiritual consolation. Burial was at St. Matthew's Cemetery in Cheektowaga, N.Y.

As his family and friends search for consolation at the loss of a beloved son, a faithful husband, a devoted father, a dutiful brother and a dear friend, we find it in the very thing that motivated Zenon Bodnarskyj to service. It was his great and pure love for Ukraine, for the Ukrainian people, who suffer the myriad social, political and economic injustices and misfortunes that has been their legacy.

And this great and pure love gives birth to an equally great and pure faith: that the future must and will be different from our past. In his brief life, Zenon Bodnarskyj did his part in assuring that this future will come to pass. His good and kind deeds reflect his faith and attest to his love for his family and for Ukraine. May his memory be our inspiration.

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