NEWS AND VIEWS: The UNWLA's Social Welfare Program: helping thousands through the years (03/02/97)

NEWS AND VIEWS

The UNWLA's Social Welfare Program: helping thousands through the years

by Marta Baczynsky

Since its founding in 1925, the Ukrainian National Women's League of America (UNWLA) has maintained a very effective Social Welfare Program through which thousands of Ukrainian families, children, the elderly, the sick and the homeless have been provided with comfort, care, and moral and financial support. Through turbulent times of political upheaval, social anguish and economic disaster in Ukraine, and throughout Europe and South America, the organization has continued unfailingly, year after year, to seek out those in need and attempt to ease their distress.

The UNWLA's Social Welfare Program record is extensive and impressive. These highlights give an overview of its work:

1926 - Medical aid was sent to Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Hospital in Lviv.
1927-1928 - Money and clothing was sent to flood victims in western Ukraine.
1930 - Humanitarian and financial aid was sent to victims of political repression in Halychyna.
1933 - The Committee to Aid Famine Victims in Ukraine was organized and every possible attempt was made to help the victims, as well as to make the world aware of this terrible atrocity (for example, by disseminating information to the press and lobbying the U.S. government for intervention and aid).
1945 - The Mother and Child Fund was established to help widows and children - the victims of World War II. Before, as well as during the war, UNWLA branches throughout the United States reached out to families of political prisoners, women's groups, war invalids, and educational and cultural institutions and organizations, providing information, assistance and aid. Immediately following the war, the UNWLA concerned itself with the plight of displaced persons, helping them with food, money and clothing. In the United States attention was focused on the needs of new immigrants.
1964 - The Grandmother Fund was created to provide moral and financial support to elderly women living alone in such countries as Poland, Germany, Belgium and Brazil.
1984 - The Medical Aid Fund for Children was established with the aim of helping parents of ill children offset the medical costs. Hundreds of ill and handicapped youngsters in South America, Europe and, more recently, in Ukraine have received medical attention thanks to this fund.

From 1990 to the present Ukraine has become the focal point of the UNWLA Social Welfare Program; the Chornobyl nuclear catastrophe precipitated the program's expansion and acceleration. As Chornobyl's horrendous consequences were seen prominently in the most fragile and defenseless segments of the population - in Ukraine's children - relief efforts have been concentrated through the Medical Fund for Children and Youth - Victims of Chornobyl. In 1996 this fund was renamed the UNWLA Chornobyl Fund.

Since 1990 four blood analyzers were purchased by the UNWLA and delivered to the Regional Pediatric Hospital in Lviv at a cost of $126,000; thousands of dollars of medical supplies also were shipped. A fibrogastroscope with a price tag of $15,685 was sent to the clinic at the Dzerelo children's sanatorium in Truskavets. In 1994, the UNWLA, in a joint effort with the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund and General Electric Medical Systems, provided a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) unit for the Kyiv Clinical Center for Trauma and Emergency Medicine. The UNWLA contributed $200,000 toward this project. Several other projects are currently being developed, that involve the procurement of medical equipment for children's hospitals in Ukraine.

The Social Welfare Committee is headed by Lidia Czernyk, who has held the post for more than 12 years. Other members of the committee are Anna Krawczuk, UNWLA president; Iryna Russnak, who coordinates the aid to Ukraine; Nadia Oransky, whose concern is social welfare on the territory of the United States; Olha Hnatyk, who oversees the Aid to Grandmothers program; and Anna Rak, treasurer of the UNWLA Social Welfare Committee.

Mrs. Czernyk explained that funding for the program comes not only from members of the UNWLA, but to a large degree from individuals in the community who support the organization's efforts. "Our members and the many people who support us understand our difficult mission and trust us to do what is right. Through their financial support, through their most generous donations - for which we are very grateful - we are able to help our fellow Ukrainians when and where the need is most acute," she said.

Mrs. Czernyk recently traveled to Ukraine in the company of Luba Bilowchtchuk, UNWLA Scholarship Program Chair, on a fact-finding mission, stopping in hospitals, clinics and sanitoriums where the UNWLA had sent medical equipment, supplies and financial aid. On the rounds of these institutions, she found the equipment working well and being put to good use. Mrs. Czernyk added that she communicates quite frequently with the authorities in charge, in order to be aware of any problems they may have with the equipment, as well as to be updated on any arising needs that the UNWLA can fulfill.

The UNWLA cooperates with the Ukrainian Women's League and other organizations in Ukraine on projects that help Chornobyl victims, the needy and the elderly. UNWLA Regional Councils have adopted sister-cities in nine regions of Ukraine where they support various social welfare and educational endeavors.

Speaking about her recent visit to Ukraine, Mrs. Czernyk said it was a bit different from the previous ones. This time, in addition to hospitals, she and Ms. Bilowchtchuk also visited orphanages in western Ukraine. In these institutions, as in the hospitals, dire problems prevail. Mrs. Czernyk explained that the UNWLA Social Welfare Program will now focus also on the many orphanages that so desperately need help. Aside from clothing and colorful toys for children, there seems to be a pronounced need for food - powdered milk and cereals - and, of course, vitamins and medicines. "Food is not expensive in the United States, but the shipping is," said Mrs. Czernyk. "We have to concentrate on finding a quick, inexpensive and sure way to get what is needed to those children."

Many organizations promote social welfare programs, but not many can present the enviable credentials of longevity, tenacity and success that the UNWLA has.

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To support the UNWLA's Social Welfare Program, please make your tax-deductible contributions to UNWLA Chornobyl Fund or UNWLA Welfare Fund, and mail them to: UNWLA, 108 Second Ave., New York, NY 10003.

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