UKELODEON: For The Next Generation (05/11/03)

UKELODEON

For The Next Generation

Connecticut community's children observe age-old traditions

ANSONIA, Conn. - The children of this town in the Lower Naugatuck Valley in Connecticut - an area that locals refer to simply as "The Valley" - enjoyed observing age-old Ukrainian traditions at Eastertime. On April 5 and 19 many attended pysanky-decorating classes at Ss. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church. The classes were taught by a longtime local activist, Frank Stuban, who has taught the art of making Ukrainian Easter eggs for about 40 years, along with two assistants, Helen Stuban and Susan Monks. In the photo above, children in one of the classes are seen holding illustrations showing how to make a pysanka. On Holy Saturday, in keeping with Ukrainian tradition, more than 500 Ukrainians who reside in Ansonia and other nearby towns along the Naugatuck River brought their Easter food baskets to be blessed by the Rev. Pawlo Martyniuk.

Petro Pytaye asks: What did you wish your parents?

In an attempt to get more UKELODEON readers involved and onto the pages of this special section for "the next generation," our roving reporter, Petro Pytaye, is asking you to reply to the following question in time for our next issue.

What did you wish your Mom on Mother's Day, and what will you wish your Dad on Father's Day? Be creative! (Will it be blue skies with smiling clouds, a bright sun and a rainbow, as drawn by one young reader?)

Send in your responses, along with your photo, age, school and address, to: The Ukrainian Weekly, UKELODEON, 2200 Route 10, P.O. Box 280, Parsippany, N.J., 07054.

CHECK IT OUT: On pages 13-15 of this issue in the column called "Focus on Philately" (that's the fancy term for stamp collecting), see all the beautiful postage stamps released by Ukraine during 2002 - all 66 of them. And, if you have a favorite, vote for it!

Kids distribute Easter baskets

PARMA, Ohio - Over 25 Easter baskets were blessed on Saturday, April 26, for distribution by the parish youth to parishioners of St. Vladimir's Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Parma, Ohio, who are in hospitals and nursing homes, as well as to shut-ins who are ill at home and have no family. The baskets, each of which contained paska, egg, sausage, candle and icon, along with greetings from the parish youth, are prepared annually by the parish youth committee. Seen on the right: Father John Nakonachny, pastor of St. Vladimir's, surrounded by the youths and their families, blesses the Easter baskets that were then delivered to the sick.

St. John's students conduct food drive to help the needy

by Tanya Bihuniak and Bohdon Woch

NEWARK, N.J. - The students at St. John's School started their annual food drive on Thursday, March 20, to help The Missionaries of Charity (Mother Theresa's order).

People are hungry all over the world, and somebody just had to do something about this. But how? Our school's food drive involved the kindergarten through Grade 8. Each student was asked to bring canned food (pasta, soup, tuna, etc.) to school for collection.

The seventh grade students and their teacher, Ms. Kornas, were in charge of this food drive. Overall, there were a lot of cans coming into school!

Mr. Muench and Mr. Podberezniak will bring the food to the sisters. The sisters feed 300 people a day and rely solely on donations in food drives like this.

It was nice to help other people who are not able to get out and buy food. It's not a big effort for us to help others who don't have food every day on the tables. This is a very good example of how a small school can help the less fortunate during this season of Lent.

The food drive is an annual event that our school organizes to give back to those in need in the community.

Mishanyna

To solve this month's Mishanyna - which focuses on the colorful blooms we see come springtime - please find the names of the flowers listed below. Just for fun, we've included in parentheses the names of these flowers in Ukrainian (written in English letters to help you pronounce their names).

anemone (anemona), aster (aistra), carnation (hvozdyky), crocus (krokus), daffodil (nartsyz), daylily (liliynyk), forget-me-not (nezabudka), geranium (peliargonia), iris (kosaryky, irys), larkspur (sokyrky), lily of the valley (konvalia), marigold (nahidky, chornobryvtsi), pansy (bratky), poppy (mak), primrose (pervotsvit), rose (troyanda), sunflower (soniashnyk), tulip (tulipan), violet (fialka), zinnia (mayortsi)

OUR NEXT ISSUE: UKELODEON is published on the second Sunday of every month. To make it into our next issue, dated June 8, please send in your materials by May 30. We especially encourage kids and teens to submit articles and see their names in print!

PLEASE DROP US A LINE: UKELODEON, The Ukrainian Weekly, 2200 Route 10, P.O. Box 280, Parsippany, NJ 07054; fax, (973) 644-9510. Call us at (973) 292-9800; or send e-mail to [email protected]. (We ask all contributors to please include a daytime phone number.)

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