Turning the pages back...

May 15, 1951

Fifty years ago, on May 19, 1951, 37 members of the Selfreliance Association of Ukrainian Americans deposited $314.25 and became members of the new Self Reliance New York Federal Credit Union - the first Ukrainian credit union in the United States founded by new immigrants. That was the critical date of the founding of this credit union, today among the most powerful financial institutions in the Ukrainian diaspora.

Before that date in mid-May, however, there were certain formalities that had to take place. On March 24, 1951, for example, an organizational certificate was submitted to the Federal Credit Union Board: "We the undersigned, do hereby associate ourselves as a federal credit union for the purposes indicated in and in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Credit Union Act, Public Law 467..., we hereby request approval of this organization certificate ..." It was signed by seven founding members: Julian Revay, Hilary Olchowy, Roman Rakowsky, Bohdan Fostiak, Julian Nanassy, Dr. John Rogutsky and Yurij Fedynsky.

The name Self Reliance, or "Samopomich" in Ukrainian, was chosen to reflect the philosophical and psychological attitudes of the founding fathers and the community in general: the ideas of self-help and self-reliance of the individual, and the goal of the community working together.

Source: 2000 Annual Report of the Self Reliance New York Federal Credit Union.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, May 13, 2001, No. 19, Vol. LXIX

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