“Financial stability and security are key to a life of satisfaction. … let the UNA help you.”
While most people in our community have heard of Svoboda or The Weekly or Soyuzivka, institutions that have created bonds among us for generations, these same people are probably less aware of the organization – the Ukrainian National Association – that forms their foundation.
Established in 1894 as a fraternal benefit society – essentially a life insurance company owned and managed by its members who hold insurance policies – the Ukrainian National Association has been serving our community for more than a century.
And while the Ukrainian National Association is best known through association with its newspapers, special projects past and present such as teaching English in Ukraine, financing the Taras Shevchenko monument in Washington, hosting fund-raisers to help Ukraine’s disabled soldiers, or decades of organizing cultural events and summer camps at Soyuzivka – the UNA’s real core business is protecting your loved ones.
For more than 122 years, the Ukrainian National Association has been offering the promise that a UNA life insurance policy will help protect families from financial hardship. The Ukrainian National Association sells life insurance so that you and members of your family can be secure from the burden of financial uncertainty.
Since 1894, this promise of security has been at the core of the UNA, guiding the development of this fraternal organization. The original “burial benefit” policies needed by Ukrainian immigrants to pay for a proper funeral for those who lived and worked in the harsh conditions of the Pennsylvania coal mining towns, where the UNA began, were replaced as new and additional needs for protection and planning arose.
The UNA now offers a variety of modern term and permanent life insurance policies, as well as annuities, along with Traditional, Roth and SEP IRAs to help with retirement planning, and endowments and Coverdell ESA accounts for a child or grandchild’s educational expenses.
What distinguishes the UNA from a typical life insurance company is that the UNA, committed to our common Ukrainian heritage, returns a portion of the proceeds from the sale of financial products – insurance and annuities – back to its members and our community. These funds have helped weave the fabric of our community decade after decade.
With the beginning of Life Insurance Awareness Month, held annually in September nationwide, the UNA begins a series of articles that will explain which UNA products can help you and your family, will answer questions about life insurance and annuities, and offer interviews with UNA members.
Many UNA members are able to acquire life insurance through their employment, yet they also choose to have policies with the UNA. They understand the importance of supporting an organization that supports them.
In the United States in 1868, only 26 years before the UNA was established, the fraternal insurance movement was started by a group of railroad mechanics in Readville, Pa., a town then not far from Shamokin, birthplace of the UNA. The UNA, as one of the oldest fraternal insurance organizations in America, was one of 85 fraternals registered in the United States in 2015. Currently operating in 16 states, the UNA has a solid record of financial management and longevity, having weathered two world wars and several major economic downturns.
As a new series of articles begins, it is important to note that a similar series of 18 articles was published in this newspaper in 2012-2013. Those articles continue to provide useful information and the series can be found on the UNA website. That series was initiated at the suggestion of the late Christine Kozak, who carried on a long tradition of commitment to the fraternal values of the UNA. Ms. Kozak, who passed away in late June, was a dedicated member of the UNA Executive Board, serving as UNA mational secretary for 16 years, and the daughter of a dedicated UNA branch secretary, Lydia Kozak.
Exactly four years ago, here on these pages, Ms. Kozak wrote, “Financial stability and security are key to a life of satisfaction. …Managing personal finances is becoming more complex in today’s world and we sincerely hope that you find these articles to be helpful and in the near future, will let the UNA help you.” As then, those words hold true today.
To ensure your peace of mind and to learn more about how the various cost-effective products offered by the UNA can help you directly with your financial planning needs, contact your local UNA branch secretary, or the UNA Home Office through the toll-free number 1-800-253-9862, or via its website at www.ukrainiannationalassociation.org.