EDITORIAL: The UNA: reflections on its 104th birthday (02/22/98)

EDITORIAL

The UNA: reflections on its 104th birthday

Today, February 22, happens to be the Ukrainian National Association's birthday. Its 104th birthday. It may not be a "kruhla richnytsia" (i.e., a major anniversary) as Ukrainians like to say, but it is cause for some reflection about where this organization has been and where it is headed, particularly as we stand on the threshold of a new millennium.

According to Dr. Myron B. Kuropas, author of "Ukrainian American Citadel: The First 100 Years of the Ukrainian National Association," since its founding in 1894 "the UNA and the Ukrainian community have been one. They are still inseparable. What happens to the Ukrainian American community happens to the UNA, and what is good for the UNA has generally been good for the community." The author told The Weekly in August of last year that he hopes his history of the UNA "will awaken Ukrainians in North America to the importance of continuing to support this exemplary institution."

Several months later, at the November 1997 meeting of the UNA General Assembly, Vice-Presidentess Anya-Dydyk-Petrenko spoke during a ceremony before the statue of the UNA's patron and guiding light, Taras Shevchenko. As we look to the future, she said, we must admit that the UNA today faces "moments of crisis," the most important of which is declining membership as members pass on and the ranks are not replenished. "This matter demands our most immediate attention, otherwise we will betray those generations that will follow us," she exhorted her fellow assembly members.

Indeed, as we write these lines less than three months before the UNA convention, we can clearly see this truth: if we fail today to make the UNA viable, our children and grandchildren will not have the UNA to serve them tomorrow. The question is - and this is the topic of much debate among the UNA leadership - what does the UNA need to do to attract new members? Should it remain true to its fraternal principles, providing an array of fraternal benefits to its members and the community at large; should it continue to play a leading role in our Ukrainian community life? Or should it concentrate on the insurance business as its bread and butter?

Thus far, General Assembly members appear to have taken a position that can best be described as "all of the above." Their 1997 meeting discussed some of these philosophical positions and the result was a mission statement that reaffirms and updates the UNA's founding principles in a concise and precise manner. And just what is that mission? "To promote the principles of fraternalism; to preserve the Ukrainian, Ukrainian American and Ukrainian Canadian heritage and culture; and to provide quality financial services and products to its members."

But, for the UNA to succeed in its mission, it has to reach out to our community and support its endeavors, and our community has to respond by joining the Ukrainian National Association. Mutual support, we steadfastly believe, is the key to ensuring both our community's and the UNA's health into the next millennium.

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