THE UKRAINIAN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FORUM

Chicago District votes to join local UCCA

CHICAGO - The Chicago UNA District Committee met on Saturday, April 5, and took up membership in the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America as the first order of business.

Invited to address the meeting was Orest Baranyk, president of the Chicago branch of the UCCA. He distributed leaflets that reviewed the work of the UCCA and its affiliates over the past 20 years.

Also addressing the meeting was Dr. Myron B. Kuropas, author of "Ukrainian American Citadel: The First One Hundred Years of the Ukrainian National Association."

"I was elected vice-president of the Ukrainian American Coordinating Committee when it was first established in 1983," explained Dr. Kuropas. "Our future looked bright. We sponsored a commemoration of the Great Famine in Washington that year which involved some 18,000 participants from 11 states. And then unfortunately, the UACC began to decline. Instead of increasing the UACC membership base during the past 20 years, we lost members. The UNA also lost members. The UNA had almost 90,000 members in 1980 when we withdrew from the UCCA; today we have less than half that number. The UCCA, meanwhile, has prospered. It's time to cut bait and to rejoin the UCCA."

After a short discussion, a motion to rejoin the UCCA was made. The vote was unanimous in favor of the motion. Following this historic vote, the meeting continued with the usual order of business. In keeping with a directive from the UNA Home Office in Parsippany, N.J., a membership quota was assigned.

There was a brief discussion of the future of Soyuzivka, as well as the future of the UNA in general. Most members agreed that from their perspective there were no new initiatives from the Home Office that could assist them in organizing new members.

Members present then voted to make donations to the following worthy causes: an ad in the book to be published by Hrymovytsia, a Chicago-based Ukrainian dance group that is preparing to go on tour to Ukraine; a donation to the Memorial Society's book chronicling Soviet crimes in Ukraine.

Following reports by district committee executives, the board of auditors voted to grant "absolutorium" to the outgoing executive board.

Re-elected for another year were: Stefko Kuropas, chairman; Andrij Skyba, secretary; Bohdan Kukuruza, treasurer; and Paul Banderiwsky, Myron Lushchak and Teodor Turchyn, auditors.

The meeting ended with a luncheon, compliments of UNA's Chicago District Committee.

Home Office works toward revitalizing UNA

The Ukrainian National Association's national secretary, Christine Kozak, has taken a pro-active role in revitalizing the UNA. The focus of the initiative is to capitalize on UNA participation in locally sponsored events, which provide a forum for UNA executive officers to meet the community and introduce the UNA to the widest of audiences.

To accomplish this goal, UNA district committees and branch secretaries were given the directive to organize a fraternal activity in conjunction with their district meeting. It is not cost-effective for a representative to attend the district meetings without a planned organized event, and it is the desire of the UNA Executive Committee to work hand-in-hand with the secretaries.

The promotional effort put forth by UNA Home Office for its branches included:

• the 2003 Organizing Plan;
  
  
• the launch of a new product line;
  
  
• flyers and brochures ("Short-Term Annuities," "Life Insurance Protection for Women");
  
  
• a list of suggested fraternal activities;
  
  
• a referral program for secretaries and UNA members; and
  
  
• two life insurance applications mailed to each branch for enrolling new members.

Additional support from UNA Home Office provided the following:

• two newsletters since January 2003;
  
  
• monetary incentives - commissions paid are the highest they have ever been in UNA history;
  
  
• articles in both Svoboda and The Ukrainian Weekly ("Why I need to purchase life insurance," "What is an annuity?"); and
  
  
• the 2002 and, most recently, the 2003 Standard's Independent Comparative Report on the UNA.

The UNA's organizing initiative has been successful in the areas where branch secretaries responded to the call for cooperative effort. Below are two districts, demonstrating different results. The numbers speak for themselves.

	Albany	Chicago
No. of branches in district	5	15
New member quota	40	95
New members 2002 2001 2000	41 35 38	7 25 21
Loss of membership 2002	48	140
New quota for 2003 determined by each district	32	15

In order to analyze their membership and identify opportunities, UNA branch secretaries receive the following on a monthly basis:

• branch assessments showing the status of all active members - paid to date, etc.;
  
  
• a list of lapsing members, whom secretaries are directed to contact in order to conserve business; and
  
  
• a list of members whose policies will be maturing or expiring in the next quarter (this represents potential sales).

- UNA Executive Committee

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 1, 2003, No. 22, Vol. LXXI

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