NEWS AND VIEWS: UNWLA's social welfare programs provide assistance to people of Ukraine (10/06/02)

NEWS AND VIEWS

UNWLA's social welfare programs provide assistance to people of Ukraine

by Lidia Babiuk

Americans of Ukrainian descent ought to be proud of the fact that, from the time they first settled in the United States, they have been providing assistance to other Ukrainians throughout the world. They have helped their relatives, friends and strangers, the ill and infirm, the elderly and orphans. They have always been particularly sensitive to the plight of women and others.

The Ukrainian National Women's League of America (UNWLA), one of the oldest women's organizations in the United States, has focused a great deal of attention on social welfare - a matter of great concern to its members. In the last decade the Social Welfare Chair of the UNWLA has directed its assistance programs toward Ukraine, supporting its economic, national and cultural development and thus strengthening the country's stability and independence.

On the 75th anniversary of the UNWLA, Patriarch Lubomyr Husar sent the following message: "Since the founding of the UNWLA and continuing through the subsequent years, Ukrainian women in America have shown great organizational capability, particularly benefiting women, as well as compassionate service worthy of admiration on behalf of the needy in the United States, beyond its borders, and especially in Ukraine."

President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine sent his greeting: "People are grateful to you for your humanitarian support, which you gave following the Chornobyl catastrophe and the destructive floods in Zakarpattia."

Dr. O. Myndiuk, chief of the Regional Special Children's Clinic in Lviv wrote: "Your long-term, invaluable and multi-faceted aid consequentially acknowledges our standards and achievements, thus allowing us to continue high-quality diagnostic work and medical treatments for children in Ukraine."

The president of the Luhansk branch of the Women's League of Ukraine, Ivanna Kolesnyk, in her financial report about the initiative "Milk and Buns" for the youngest schoolchildren of Ukraine, said: "Of the 61 schools in Luhansk, this is the only school where the children receive free breakfast. It was difficult before to fill a class of Ukrainian studies, but this year, thanks to you, parents are enrolling their children. The children are not sick as often. ... On Easter we sent 25 children/orphans from large families to the Stryi district, Lviv region. These children learned how to conduct themselves in church. They came back totally different - better-behaved, more serious and kinder. The unification between the East and the West has great significance in the education of our youth."

The UNWLA also receives many letters of gratitude from elderly women, "babusi," who appreciate even the smallest gift, knowing that very far from them, in the United States, someone remembers them.

The UNWLA works in close cooperation with twenty-two regional branches of Soyuz Ukrainok in Ukraine. We send them money, which they distribute to the needy. Once every year $1,000 is sent to each branch of Soyuz Ukrainok for Christmas gifts for the elderly. We receive exact reports with signatures of the gift recipients. Only then do we continue with our aid. In August we send funds to cover the cost of the "Milk and Buns" initiative for the schools that have sent reports of the program's activity during the previous year. Free breakfasts are given to children in Lviv (three schools), Kharkiv (three schools), Luhansk (one school), Yalta (one school), in Zakarpattia (two schools). The schools also utilize these funds to organize events for the children, such as the Feast of St. Nicholas, Mother's Day and others.

Money from the Chornobyl Fund is utilized to organize curative summer camps for children from regions that are ecologically polluted: Vinnytsia, Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Zhytomyr, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Rivne, Sumy, Cherkasy, Chernivtsi, Chernihiv and Khmelnytsky. Each summer 100 children receive medical care in Truskavets.

The economic situation in Ukraine remains complex. Let us make an effort to help those who need our support, primarily elderly and frail people who often are alone. Their lives were hard and their senior years are difficult, since the pensions they receive hardly cover food. Many, many children are in orphanages. They have to be clothed, fed, educated and properly raised. The government covers only a minimal portion of the costs.

Recently Barbara Bachynsky, UNWLA Welfare Chair, received a letter from Sister Maria Bernard of the Basilian Order in Fox Chase, Pa., who wrote: "Please help me in my missionary work with orphans in Ukraine. I suffered a horrible automobile accident and came out alive, therefore, for the past eight years I have been working with children, as my thanks to God that I am still alive. I try to visit as many orphanages as possible, bringing gifts to the children - fruit, cookies, medical supplies, juices, etc. I know the places where the need is the greatest and where they don't steal from the children. In many orphanages the children are terribly neglected and oppressed." She described the orphanages she had visited and through her we are able to provide money to the needy children.

The children of Ukraine are its future! Please help them become good citizens of their country. A happy smile on a child's face will make us happy, too. With our generous donations we are also helping our homeland.

In her opening speech to the 26th Convention of the UNWLA, President Iryna Kurowyckyj said: "Ten years have passed since Ukraine became independent. We should consider ourselves lucky to be part of these historic times, to be active participants in the creation of a brilliant future for Ukraine. In this, we ask God's help."

Donations may be sent to: Ukrainian National Women's League of America Inc., Social Welfare Chair, 203 Second Ave., New York, NY 10003. Donations are tax-deductible.

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