Ukrainian Americans aid Ukraine via diverse programs

by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - The summer of 2006 proved particularly busy with diaspora Ukrainians lending a helping hand to Ukraine as it approaches its 15th anniversary of independence.

By developing sports programs, extending medical help and donating much-needed equipment, they've proven that vast wealth isn't necessary to make a difference in Ukraine.

Desire, effort and support from Americans, particularly institutions such as the Self Reliance New York Federal Credit Union, make it all possible, charity leaders said.

"Each person who supports us makes a difference," said George Kuzma, founding trustee of Ukrainian Gift of Life Inc. (UGoL), a charity based in Glen Rock, N.J.

Ukrainian Gift of Life Inc.

When Ukraine achieved its independence, Mr. Kuzma distinctly remembers how he wanted to do something to help. He just didn't know what exactly.

Inspiration struck when he and his wife Kathy hosted a Polish child for a U.S. heart surgery in 1990 on behalf of the Ridgewood Rotary Club.

"I knew I could get at least one kid's life saved through the Rotarians," Mr. Kuzma said.

They've done better than that.

By launching Ukrainian Gift of Life the Kuzmas have helped rescue the lives of more than 300 Ukrainian children by providing them with desperately needed heart operations, either in the United States or at the Lviv Surgical Center.

The two other trustees involved in launching UGoL were Anna Kowal and Maria Hywel.

More than 800 people, mostly UGoL beneficiaries and relatives, but volunteers as well, attended its 10th anniversary celebration on July 8 in Lviv, where nine American families were able to re-unite with the Ukrainian children and mothers they hosted.

Among those making the trek were Paul and Carmen Platek of Teaneck, N.J., who hosted 8-year-old Anatolii Oleksyn and Daria Zarichnaya, a 1-year-old who avoided death as a result of major reconstructive heart surgery.

Helping to save a life by simply providing a residence, food and transportation for a child and mother has brought them joy, the Plateks said.

"We hear from them on holidays and birthdays, and send them things," Mr. Platek said. "It fulfills us."

Beyond arranging operations, UGoL has provided $15 million in doctor costs, hospital services, medical equipment and consumables to Ukraine's ill children.

With no extraordinary medical knowledge or financial resources, the Kuzmas have demonstrated that average Ukrainian Americans can make a significant mark.

Of the 106 children who traveled to U.S. hospitals for operations, 96 percent survived, according to UGoL.

God's blessings helped them along the way, the Kuzmas said, and among the biggest was their relationship with Dr. Yurii Ivaniv, a cardiologist Mr. Kuzma met in the early days of UGoL.

"He provided the bridge across the ocean that we needed by donating his time, energy and God-given talents," Mr. Kuzma said in awarding Dr. Ivaniv UGoL's 10th Anniversary Heart and Spirit Award.

"From the moment I met him 10 years ago, one morning at 6 a.m., I was impressed with his vision, honesty and integrity. And he has never disappointed."

Among the U.S. surgeons he's worked with, Dr. Ivaniv has become known as an expert diagnostician in selecting the most needy children.

His professional diagnoses and fact presentations have enabled Ukrainian children to be more readily accepted as compared to patients from other countries, Mr. Kuzma said.

After several years of transporting children to the U.S. for surgery, UGoL's leadership recognized the need for Ukrainian medical institutions to handle heart surgeries themselves so that they're more self-sufficient in pediatric cardiology.

Dr. Ivaniv established training programs in Lviv, while UGoL launched fellowship exchange programs for doctors with Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York University Surgical Center, St. Christopher's Hospital in Philadelphia and, primarily, The Children's Hospital in Philadelphia.

Ukrainian surgeons undergo observational training in acute cases and case management to become familiar with modern equipment and leading-edge protocols. They also witness new methods of surgery and post-operative care, which they put to practice upon returning to Ukraine.

Of the 196 UGoL-sponsored child surgeries performed in Lviv since January 2000, 98 percent have survived, according to the organization.

Dr. Ivaniv established a surgical support program in which American sponsors pay for expensive consumables used during a specific child's surgery. The sponsor receives a photo and possible letter from the child, enabling a relationship to form.

UGoL also annually ships about $500,000 in technological, diagnostic, surgical and other medical equipment and supplies.

For its 10th anniversary celebration, UGoL unveiled one of its biggest projects - refurbishment of the Lviv Surgical Center's Post-Operative Pediatric Cardiology Care Unit and Pediatric Ward.

The unit enables complex surgeries to be performed, particularly involving children age 2 and younger, which is the optimum time for heart surgery.

As a result of UGoL's support, surgeons at the Lviv Surgical Center performed Ukraine's first successful hypoplastic left heart syndrome surgery in April.

"About 15 years ago I had the feeling that our profession would die after we experience a serious economic collapse, when there was absolutely nothing to carry out ordinary operations, for example, because of appendicitis," Dr. Ivaniv said.

"If not for such organizations [as UGoL,] this profession wouldn't exist. It was necessary to renovate everything from the beginning," he added.

UGoL receives most of its financial support from outside the Ukrainian community. By Mr. Kuzma's estimates, Americans of non-Ukrainian descent have provided 80 percent of the financial support.

However, more than 900 Ukrainian Americans consistently make donations ranging between $5 and $5,000, he said.

Those donating their time welcome a mother and child at an airport, drive them to appointments or church services, and help translate during doctor appointments.

Contributions to UGoL can be sent to: Ukrainian Gift of Life, 233 Rock Road, Glen Rock, NJ 07452, or by visiting the website http://www.ukrainiangiftoflife.com.

United Ukrainian American Relief Committee Inc.

When Dr. Larissa Lozynskyj-Kyj took the reins at the United Ukrainian American Relief Committee (UUARC) in 1997, she decided it was time to focus its efforts on Ukrainians on the other side of the ocean.

"The mission has dramatically changed because the mission was supposed to help new arrivals," she said. "The UUARC helped relocate 70,000 Ukrainians from displaced persons camps in Western Europe."

This summer the UUARC distributed 560 wheelchairs throughout Ukraine, completing a project with the Danville, Calif.-based Wheelchair Foundation that enabled a total of 840 wheelchairs to reach disabled Ukrainians in the last year.

Shipped in three containers, the wheelchairs cost a total of $126,000. Self Reliance New York Federal Credit Union footed the bill for one shipment.

Ukrainian American individuals and organizations raised $42,000 to buy high-quality wheelchairs. The Wheelchair Foundation matched every dollar, raising the total to $84,000, or enough to pay for 560 wheelchairs.

Organizations contributing funds were the Ukrainian Medical Association of North America, Self Reliance New York Federal Credit Union, the SUMA Yonkers Federal Credit Union and the Ukrainian Institute of America.

Wheelchairs from the first container were distributed in June 2005 at a Kyiv nursing home during a ceremony in which First Lady Kateryna Yushchenko of Ukraine and Libby Pataki, the wife of the New York governor, took part.

The effort proved so successful that the Wheelchair Foundation decided to donate 280 wheelchairs at its own cost with the June shipment.

"We sent them back pictures, and we're getting along with them," Dr. Kyj said. "They liked the work of the first distribution, so they gave us an extra container."

On June 20 Dr. Lozynskyj-Kyj and UUARC staff visited the Vinnytsia Geriatric Nursing Home to see the wheelchairs in use and establish relations with administrators.

Prior to the arrival of the new wheelchairs, the nursing home staff could only provide residents with wheelchairs that were nearly a decade old, said Liudmyla Tokar, a nurse-manager.

These required frequent repairs, and the handyman even had to switch and reuse parts and wheels to keep some wheelchairs working.

The disabled patients were happy and grateful to receive the new wheelchairs, said Ms. Tokar. They don't fall back and they have a plastic grip on the wheels that don't turn cold like the metal wheels do, the residents said.

"For people unable to walk, a new wheelchair is like a new pair of legs," said Lidiya Kukhta, 42. "These wheelchairs are very comfortable."

Of the wheelchair distributions in June, 56 went to institutions in the Vinnytsia Oblast, 12 to the Chernihiv Oblast, 40 to the Zhytomyr Oblast, 65 to the Luhansk Oblast, 65 to the Lviv Oblast, 55 to the Volyn Oblast, 55 to the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast and 55 to the Ternopil Oblast.

Any remaining wheelchairs were given to other individuals in need.

The Wheelchair Foundation has provided Ukrainians with more than 3,500 wheelchairs.

However, providing wheelchairs is just one of numerous charitable projects the UUARC is involved with in Ukraine.

The Dido and Babusia Project launched in 1997 distributes $15 a month to 140 elderly Ukrainians in the Halychyna region, many of whom suffered political repressions during the Soviet era.

The UUARC also supports two cafeterias in Lviv that feed 50 hungry people a full lunch for five days a week.

Every month, the UUARC's aid commission reviews individual requests and distributes $5,000 to those needing medical operations or assistance.

When addressing the Vinnytsia Geriatric Nursing Home's staff and residents, Dr. Lozynskyj-Kyj explained that it's the values instilled by her immigrant parents that motivate her and the UUARC to engage in charity.

"Ukraine is dear to us," Dr. Lozynskyj-Kyj said. "Our parents raised us to never forget about you."

Those interested in submitting a donation or request to the UUARC can write to: 1206 Cottman Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19111 or visit the website at http://www.uuarc.org.

Ukraine Baseball

Call him the godfather of Ukrainian baseball.

Ever since Ukraine's independence, retired New York City math teacher and Major League Baseball talent scout Basil Tarasko has devoted his life to developing the sport in his ancestral homeland.

In June he completed his 42nd baseball mission trip to Ukraine, which had a particular focus on developing the nation's Little League that now consists of 10 organizations from Donetsk to Lviv.

For the first time in five years, Mr. Tarasko distributed new equipment, including 3,000 new baseballs, to Little Leaguers who would otherwise have no ability to acquire such things as bats, helmets, batting tees and catcher's gear.

"Everything you can imagine on a baseball field was somewhere here," Mr. Tarasko said of the 300 cartons of equipment that were shipped with the help of the Children of Chornobyl Relief and Development Fund.

The U.S. State Department paid for all shipping costs.

Among those benefiting from donated equipment was the Ostroh Little League in the Rivne Oblast, which consists of four teams -- one composed of deaf orphans.

With a $5,000 grant from the Baseball Tomorrow Fund, the 50 boys received 54 brand new uniforms, as well as all the necessary new equipment, said Mr. Tarasko, who is district administrator of Ukraine Little League.

During his baseball mission trip, Mr. Tarasko visited eastern Ukrainian orphanages in seven different cities, with each receiving its own set of baseball equipment, enough for four teams to play.

In all, nine new orphanages will field teams to play in Ukraine Little League's 2007 season.

Orphans are already active in Ukraine Little League. Boys from the Donetsk Orphans School No. 1 played an exhibition match during the June 3 national tournament in Kyiv.

The teams from orphanages typically don't win Ukraine's Little League tournaments, however Donetsk Orphan School One Coach Valentyna Lazarev said they learn valuable life skills along the way.

"It's a creative game," she said. "I haven't seen that in other sports. It's kind and doesn't have anger or aggressiveness. Afterwards, everyone is friendly, hugs, takes pictures and writes letters."

Baseball is also an intellectual sport that enables the boys to develop their mental and logical skills, she said.

Kirovohrad remains Ukraine's Little League powerhouse, with a well-organized player development program that begins in early youth and leads all the way to the professional level.

For the first time in four years, Ukraine sent a team to Kutno, Poland, in August to play in the Little League European championships.

They were able to afford the cost of traveling to Poland thanks to financial support provided by the Self Reliance New York Federal Credit Union and the Cherry Tavern and Veselka restaurants in Manhattan's East Village, Mr. Tarasko said.

The boys from Kirovohrad defeated the Lithuanian team, but lost to the Germans and Moldovans. The Russian Federation's team went on to represent the European, Middle East and Africa region in the World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

However, American Peace Corps volunteers who umpired the national tournament in Kyiv said they were surprisingly impressed with the level of play in a country where baseball is virtually a non-existent sport.

"Ukrainians love competing," said Patrick Walsh, 23, a native of Washington, D.C., and Peace Corps volunteer. "But in the States, I wouldn't be hugging the other guy or taking pictures with them. By nature, we're different."

Baseball in Ukraine is set for future growth, as Mr. Tarasko has established a new relationship with the U.S. Peace Corps' Youth Development Program in Ukraine.

Starting in 2005, American Peace Corps volunteers began umpiring and participating in games, launching Little League organizations in their communities and establishing links with American towns to transfer much-needed baseball equipment to Ukraine.

Ukraine's Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports supports the program as a means of reducing the growing socio-economic gap between large cities and small towns and villages, said Anatolii Sakhno, the lead specialist for the Youth Development program.

The boys of Donetsk Orphans School No. 1 want to invite American orphans to visit their city and play baseball with them, Ms. Lazarev said.

Anyone interested can contact Iryna Podzorova, director of the Donetsk Oblast Youth Sports School For Orphans, at the e-mail address [email protected], or by writing to her at 83014 Donetsk, Prospekt Dzerzhynskoho 16.

Anyone interested in contacting Mr. Tarasko can reach him at the e-mail address [email protected].

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, August 20, 2006, No. 34, Vol. LXXIV

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