LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (04/14/02)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

It's time to think about downsizing

Dear Editor:

The news story about the Summit of Ukrainian American Organizations (March 24) reminded me of a series of articles a generation ago called "De Nashi Dity?" (Where are our children?) I am of the generation to which those articles referred.

My wife and I are doing our best to raise fine young Ukrainian Americans, involving them in the Ukrainian Catholic Church, Ridna Shkola, Plast. However, there are few families like us left in the Greater Cleveland Ukrainian community, when you take into account the large number of Ukrainians in this area.

The future will bring about church and school closings, some organizations will cease to exist soon because of dwindling numbers of active members, and some resort/camp properties will be sold due to a lack of interest.

The task at hand, as I see it, is how to downsize in an orderly fasion in order to survive as an ethnic group in Greater Cleveland, as well as the entire diaspora.

A good place to start, I think, would be to place a building moratorium on new churches and civic centers, as we cannot fill the ones we already have!

Consolidating all youth organizations into one Ukrainian youth organization would also go a long way in preserving what is or will be left.

Perhaps these thoughts are too radical for all the different factions to accept, but I truly believe the time has come to think in this manner.

This is a bitter pill to swallow; unfortunately, reality isn't always as pretty as the pictures of those debs you ran in this issue!

Orest Stecyk, M.D.
Uniontown, Ohio

About UNA policies and our benefits

Dear Editor:

Taras Ferencevych (Letters to the Editor, April 7) is quite right. For some time now I have felt that the UNA scholarships have been pulverized to the extent that they lost any real significance. This program is long overdue for an overhaul.

I also second the thoughts of Roma Hayda regarding insufficient transparency with respect to the approaching UNA convention. Who are the candidates? What issues are to be acted upon?

Finally, allow me to put in a word for us oldsters. Why is it that as soon as we pay up our life paid-up policies, we immediately lose all membership privileges in the UNA (e.g., discounts for publications, Soyuzivka, etc.)? After all, the UNA is still sitting on our money. We would have been better off to purchase ordinary life - not only would we have paid in less at this stage of our life, but also we would have retained membership privileges. Is this fair?

Orest Hawryluk, M.D.
Elkins Park, Pa.

Thanks to Isajiw for needed study

Dear Editor:

Just wanted to express my appreciation to Prof. Wsewolod Isajiw from Toronto University and Dr. Julian Kulas from the Ukrainian Heritage Foundation in Chicago for undertaking the survey of the last and Fourth (actually fifth) Wave of the Ukrainian immigrants to the North American continent. To the best of my recollection, this is the first survey that was sponsored by one of our Ukrainian institutions and done professionally. I don't know of any other up until now.

The Ukrainian National Association is having its next triennial convention here in Chicago during the month of May. I highly recommend and request that the UNA, as well as all the other existing Ukrainian fraternal associations, invest money in a similar, and more comprehensive, study of the Fourth Wave in order to find the reasons why so few members of that wave join our fraternities.

Our Ukrainian Churches, Catholic, Orthodox and Evangelical, also should be invited to participate in such a study. A professionally done sociological study is the best method in finding out why these same new immigrant families are avoiding membership in these Churches. Those who do join our parishes rarely support them to the fullest of their means financially, but yet own two or more homes. To help defray the cost of such an extended study all the three major youth organizations: Plast, SUM and ODUM should participate. All three organizations would gain from such a study. Our Ukrainian credit unions have gained the most members from this given group. They should, en masse, support such a study not only morally but also financially.

Slawomyr M. Pihut
Crystal Lake, IL

The Queen Mum and Ukrainian kutia

Dear Editor:

In case you didn't catch the reminiscence by Edward Schreyer, governor general of Canada from 1979 to 1984, of his visit then with the Queen Mother in London ( National Post, April 10) :

He says :

" ... Among other matters, I told her [the Queen Mother] that our visit coincided that evening with the Ukrainian Christmas Eve and that as a symbolic gesture we had brought one of the traditional meatless dishes - kutia. I explained further that the boiled wheat, honey and poppyseed ingredients had been prepared and kept separate simply because kutia, once cooked, does not travel well. ... She seemed to listen carefully when I explained that kutia tastes best when served by itself. ... When the kutia was served, the Queen Mum proceeded to ladle it generously over her apple pie saying: 'I think it tastes rather better this way, don't you?' What was one to say ? It was one of her endearing mannerisms - to put certain thought and statements in the interrogative."

What indeed?

Irena Bell
Ottawa

The Ukrainian Weekly welcomes letters to the editor and commentaries on a variety of topics of concern to the Ukrainian American and Ukrainian Canadian communities. Opinions expressed by columnists, commentators and letter-writers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of either The Weekly editorial staff or its publisher, the Ukrainian National Association.

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