Self Reliance New York celebrates 50th anniversary of its founding (05/13/01)

Self Reliance New York celebrates 50th anniversary of its founding

NEW YORK - The Self Reliance New York Credit Union - the first Ukrainian credit union in the United States - celebrated its 50th anniversary with a gala concert featuring top Ukrainian artists at The Cooper Union Hall on Sunday afternoon, April 29.

Featured was a cast of internationally renowned performers: the Leontovych String Quartet; tenor Roman Tsymbala, formerly of the Lviv Opera Theater; soprano Oksana Krovytska of the New York City Opera; pianist Volodymyr Vynnytsky; and New York's own Dumka Chorus directed by Vasyl Hrechynsky (with piano accompaniment by Larysa Hutnykevych).

The concert highlight was the world premiere of a work specially commissioned by Self Reliance, the three-part "Ukrainian Suite" by composer Myroslav Skoryk of Lviv. The piece, featuring "Duma," "Variations" and "Dance," was performed by the Leontovych Quartet - violinists Petro Krysa and Judy Spokes, violist Borys Deviatov and cellist Volodymyr Paneteleiev. The composer himself was present at the concert with his wife, Adrianna.

Admission to the concert was free, as the credit union's leadership wished to give thanks to the community that supports it.

The celebrations were dedicated to the pioneers of Self Reliance New York for their "foresightful vision and devoted work in the establishment of a Ukrainian financial institution in New York," which continues to serve its members and to nurture Ukrainian community life. As noted in the program book prepared for the anniversary celebrations, Self Reliance has flourished since its founding 50 years ago with an initial deposit of $314.25 by 37 members of the Selfreliance Association of American Ukrainians. Today it boasts more than $342 million in assets and a membership of 12,117.

During the jubilee concert, Self Reliance New York FCU also celebrated its history of service to the Ukrainian community by presenting grants totaling $830,000 to Ukrainian organizations and causes, most notably The Ukrainian Museum of New York, which received a donation of $500,000 of the total (see, The Ukrainian Weekly, May 6, page 1). Other organizations that received donations included the youth organizations Plast and SUM, the Ukrainian Museum and Library of Stamford, Conn., the Ukrainian Museum at the Ukrainian Orthodox Center in South Bound Brook, N.J., Ukrainian National Women's League of America, Ukrainian World Congress, Ukrainian Institute of America, Selfreliance Association of Ukrainian Americans and the Dumka Chorus, as well as scholarly institutions, Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, Shevchenko Scientific Society, Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Ukrainian Free University. Donations were earmarked also for St. George Ukrainian Catholic School and Academy of New York and educational causes in Ukraine, the latter to be distributed via Ukrainian foundations in the United States.

The masters of ceremonies for the event, Lubomyr Zielyk and Genya Kuzmowycz Blahy, began the proceedings with a moment of silence in tribute to deceased members of the board of directors.

Mr. Zielyk noted in his remarks that "Today's Self Reliance has no right to gather laurels without acknowledging the seven persons who laid its foundations 50 years ago": Julian Revay, Hilary Olchowy, Roman Rakowsky, Bohdan Fostiak, Julian Nanassy, Dr. John Rogutsky and Yurij Fedynsky. "We are boundlessly grateful to them," Mr. Zielyk underlined.

The current chairman of the board, Myroslaw Shmigel, began his remarks by noting that it is a "fortunate coincidence" that the 50th anniversary of Self Reliance and the 10th anniversary of Ukraine's regained independence both are being celebrated this year.

The founders of Self Reliance, he said, brought the ideals that had served the Ukrainian nation to a new homeland and applied them here in the establishment of the first Ukrainian credit union in the United States. "Besides serving its members, Self Reliance New York has served and continues to serve our Churches, schools, and scholarly societies, and our community and charitable organizations," Mr. Shmigel observed. More recently that service has also reached scholarly institutions, schools and the needy in Ukraine, among them victims of the floods in Zakarpattia and the Chornobyl nuclear accident.

The president and CEO of Self Reliance, Bohdan Kekish, spoke of the credit union's founding five decades ago, noting that the establishment of Self Reliance New York was, in effect, "a continuation of the cooperative movement in Ukraine, which had been liquidated by the Soviet regime in 1944 in Halychyna ... and in the eastern oblasts of Ukraine in the 1920s."

Ukrainian displaced persons, he continued, brought the cooperative movement with them to the lands of their settlement beyond the borders of Ukraine. Many other communities throughout the United States followed suit, establishing credit unions in their cities - many of them also called "Samopomich" (Self Reliance).

"We dedicate this jubilee," Dr. Kekish said, "to our pioneers, their vision and their understanding of the need to establish a Ukrainian credit union as the economic-financial base for service and benefits to its members ... as well as their understanding that a financial base was needed to strengthen the Ukrainian émigré community and to buttress the Ukrainian identity at a time when immigrants and their progeny, already as U.S. citizens, were becoming integrated into the political and social life of the country of their settlement."

Dr. Kekish went on to note that as the needs of its members changed, so, too, did Self Reliance. In order to meet those needs, the credit union "progressed from offering personal loans ... to mortgage loans and business loans"; from being open once per week on a Thursday night at 6-8 p.m. to being open five days per week at its main office in Lower Manhattan, and with service available also at three other branches, in Kerhonkson in upstate New York, in Uniondale, Long Island, and in Astoria, Queens.

"Today, after a half-century of activity, Self Reliance New York Federal Credit Union is marked by strong financial health, ... which is the basis for a promising future for at least the next 50 years," Dr. Kekish concluded.

Before the beginning of the concert program, greetings were delivered by Ukrainian World Congress President Askold Lozynskyj; Bishop Robert Moskal of the Ukrainian Catholic Church; Stephen Kerda, speaking on behalf of the Ukrainian National Credit Union Association; and the Rev. Patrick Paschak, former longtime pastor of St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church.

Many other individuals, leaders and representatives sent written congratulatory messages, among them Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), New York Gov. George E. Pataki and New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani - who declared the week of April 29 "Self Reliance Federal Credit Union Week."

After the concert, the Self Reliance New York Federal Credit Union hosted invited guests and representatives of organizations and institutions at a reception at the nearby Fifth Avenue Hotel.

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