Turning the pages back... June 23, 1999 (06/18/00)

Turning the pages back...

June 23, 1999

More than 900 people - among them members of various Ukrainian professionals' societies and community organizations - participated in the diverse programs that constituted the inaugural Joint Conferences of Ukrainian American Organizations held in and around Washington last year on June 23-27.

From its beginning, a reception at the Embassy of Ukraine on Wednesday evening, to its conclusion, a Sunday afternoon session that focused on "Finding Direction for Our Organizations," the mammoth event was an uplifting experience for a Ukrainian American community that has been changed dramatically - in the process becoming somewhat unsettled - since the re-establishment of an independent Ukrainian state.

From start to finish, participants of the Joint Conferences heard and saw what the Ukrainian American community and the Ukrainian nation have to offer, from professional knowledge in disparate fields to energetic volunteerism and beautiful music.

The Joint Conferences of Ukrainian American Organizations were seen as more than a one-shot-deal. They were to be the beginning of a new venture establishing a new framework for cooperation among the community's diverse yet complementary elements. And, community leaders and members meeting at an open session at the conclusion of the five-day event, spoke nearly unanimously in favor of setting up a mechanism for regular consultation among Ukrainian American organizations with the aim of increasing the community's effectiveness both internally and in terms of its external relations.

From all corners of the United States, representatives of younger generations of Ukrainian Americans - the 30-somethings to the 50-somethings - arrived in metropolitan Washington for this milestone undertaking.

The agenda and the mission of the Joint Conferences attracted such major organizations as the Ukrainian Medical Association of North America, whose program was split into two full-day sessions, "Advances in Medicine" and "The First International Conference on Health Care in Ukraine"; and the Ukrainian Engineers Society of America, which opted to focus on "U.S.-Ukraine Science and Technology Cooperation: Status and Opportunities." The Ukrainian American Bar Association and the Ukrainian National Credit Union Association also held major sessions.

A key part of the program - which formed the principal part of the Joint Conferences on Saturday, June 26 - was The Washington Group's conference "At the Threshold." That conference attempted, in the words of TWG President Orest Deychakiwsky, to provide "five slices of the Ukrainian reality."

Besides separate conferences of Ukrainian organizations, there were several joint events: a reception at the Embassy of Ukraine attended by approximately 275 people in two shifts; a congressional reception on Capitol Hill attended by at least 400 people, and a reception at the U.S. State Department that was filled to capacity by 425 guests.

The Joint Conferences' Saturday evening gala comprised cocktails, a banquet and a ball, with nearly 800 persons in attendance. The keynote address was delivered by Leon Fuerth, national security adviser to Vice-President Al Gore. Mr. Fuerth read a message from Mr. Gore, in which the vice-president greeted the Joint Conferences and thanked organizers for presenting him their Friend of Ukraine Award. Mr. Fuerth offered the Ukrainian American community his personal pledge that he would arrange a meeting with Vice-President Gore.

In his remarks at the opening of the banquet, Dr. Goy pointed to the unique nature of the Joint Conferences. "Our motto," he stated, "is synergy, whereby the action of the whole is greater than that of its parts." This conference, he continued, "is significant, not in its perfection, but in the teamwork that it is building for the Ukrainian community. Through this kind of work we will create a better society, not only for our community, but for our country."

Source: "Over 900 attend Joint Conferences of Ukrainian American Organizations" by Roma Hadzewycz, The Ukrainian Weekly, July 4, 1999, Vol. LXVII, No. 27.

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