N.J. Regional Council: an outline history (06/25/00)

N.J. Regional Council: an outline history

The UNWLA New Jersey Regional Council was established on October 11, 1959, in Newark, N.J.

Its first president was Olena Hordynska followed by Olha Hrab, Olga Saluk, Iryna Lewycka, Dora Rak, Irene Kindrachuk, Nadia Bihun, Olha Car, Olha Hnateyko, Lidia Hladky, Iryna Chaikivska, Olha Trytyak, Tetiana Rishko, Maria Polanskyj, Jaroslawa Mulyk. Since 1997 the New Jersey Regional Council has been led by Ms. Polanskyj.

The New Jersey Regional Council currently has 11 branches: Branch 4, New Brunswick; 18, Clifton; 24, Elizabeth; 28, Newark; 65, New Brunswick; 70, Passaic; 75, Maplewood; 86, Newark; 92, Manville; 98, Holmdel-Middletown; and 100, Carteret. Together with members-at-large it has approximately 300 members.

Among the outstanding achievements of the New Jersey Regional Council are the following.

In 1963 the Olena Hordynska Memorial Scholarship Fund for women students of Ukrainian studies was established. All New Jersey branches of the UNWLA contributed to this fund for 12 years. The fund set a precedent whereby scholarship aid was centralized and led to the establishment of the UNWLA Scholarship/Student Sponsorship Program.
Since 1969 the UNWLA New Jersey Regional Council has been a member of the New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs and has participated in its annual conventions. The UNWLA New Jersey Regional Council's resolutions regarding women political prisoners in Ukraine (1977), the Chornobyl nuclear disaster (1986) and, most recently, trafficking in women (1999) have been accepted and forwarded to the International General Federation of Women's Clubs.
Since 1981 the UNWLA Scholarship/Student Sponsorship Program Bureau has been located in New Jersey. Since 1993 it has functioned under the leadership of Luba Bilowchtchuk of Branch 4.
In 1986 New Jersey Regional Council was instrumental in collecting artifacts and establishing the Ukrainian exhibit at the Museum of Immigration on Ellis Island in New York. This was quite an accomplishment at the time when Ukraine still was part of the USSR.
In 1989 then UNWLA Education Chair Ms. Trytyak founded what is now called the Montessori Preschool at St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Parish.

The New Jersey Regional Council is proud of UNWLA Honorary President Anna Krawczuk and UNWLA Honorary members: Hanna Dmyterko-Ratych, Natalie Chaplenko, Olha Mussakowska, Sophie Andrushkiw, Olha Hnatyk, Iryna Lewycka, Iryna Chaikivska, Joanna Ratych and Ms. Trytyak. The New Jersey Regional Council's honorary members are: Ms. Lewycka, Ms. Mussakowska and Olena Melnychuk.

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