1988: A LOOK BACK: Ukrainian National Association (12/25/88)

1988: A LOOK BACK

Ukrainian National Association

The Ukrainian National Association started 1988 off by announcing that it would pay out $1 million in dividends to its members, thanks to a financially successful 1987.

Soon thereafter, the fraternal organization donated $20,000 to the U.S. Commission on the Ukraine Famine, bringing to $30,000 the amount the UNA has donated to the work of that body. The UNA continued its support of community endeavors by allocating $150,000 to the Harvard Project on the Millennium of Christianity.

In June the UNA's Supreme Assembly voted to award $115,300 in scholarships for the 1988-89 academic year to deserving students who are UNA members, as well as to donate a total of $66,500 to various Ukrainian community groups.

There was news on the cultural front, too, as the UNA sponsored the U.S. leg of a North American tour of the Barvinok Ukrainian Folkloric Ensemble from Curitiba, Brazil. The company of 50 young dancers, singers and musicians entertained Ukrainian communities in the U.S. and Canada during the month of March.

At the UNA resort, Soyuzivka, in the Catskill mountains of upstate New York, a new management team - John A. Flis and Lydia Kuczer - took over (Ms. Kuczer later left this position), and new quarters for the resort's summer workers were planned. In August, Anna Tetiana Romanna Legedza was selected to serve as Miss Soyuzivka 1989.

The Association of UNA Seniors, meanwhile, held its annual conference at Soyuzivka in June, and Gene Woloshyn of Poland, Ohio, was re-elected president of the group.

In October, the UNA hosted a book launch reception for Dr. David Marples, author of "The Social Impact of the Chernobyl Disaster" (St. Martin's Press), at the Ukrainian Institute of America. The book, Dr. Marples' second on the world's worst nuclear accident. was made possible by a sizable grant from the UNA.

The UNA presented its second annual UNA Fraternalist of the Year Award in November, and its recipient was Lev Blonarovych, secretary of UNA Branch 34 in Richmond, Va. Mr. Blonarovych, founder of that branch, has served as its secretary for 20 years.

On Veterans' Day, members of the U.S. armed forces who are prisoners of war or missing in action were remembered with a ceremony during which the POW-MIA flag was raised outside the UNA headquarters building in Jersey City. The ceremony was co-sponsored by the Ukrainian American Veterans. The flag continues to fly at the Home Office.

Perhaps the most significant development on the UNA scene was the opening of its Washington office on July 1 with Eugene Iwanciw as director. In November John Kun joined the staff as assistant director. The establishment of the office created a permanent UNA presence in the nation's capital; its purpose is to serve as an information center for Ukrainian Americans, as well as for government officials.

Also in 1988, UNA newspapers marked their anniversaries: Svoboda its 95th and The Ukrainian Weekly its 55th.

There was sad news, as well, with the deaths of former Supreme Organizer Wasyl Orichowsky at the age of 66 on January 16, and former Supreme Advisor Josephine Olinkevych-Michalenko at the age of 70 on September 30.

As the year drew to a close, UNA assets topped $62 million and the UNA was already looking ahead to its 1990 convention to be held in Baltimore.

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