NEWS AND VIEWS: UNWLA Social Welfare Committee grateful for support of donors (02/15/04)

NEWS AND VIEWS: UNWLA Social Welfare Committee grateful for support of donors

by Barbara Bachynsky

Many people of good will for many years have supported the charitable programs of the Social Welfare Committee of the Ukrainian National Women's League of America. They deserve our commendations and gratitude.

It is not an easy life for the handicapped children in orphanages, for elderly grandmothers, for families with many children, for veterans of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and for former political prisoners. There also are many ill people who cannot afford medical care.

Who else but we in the diaspora can embrace them all with the warmth of our love and give them hope, remind them that there are people who are aware of their plight and care. Individually and collectively, many in our communigy have supported the charities of the UNWLA with great generosity.

A total of 2,665 of the youngest school children in Ukraine express their thanks to donors for the nutritious milk and rolls that they receive in school. People of good will have contributed $97,468 to this program.

Grandmothers and orphans offer thanks for remembering them on the feast of St. Nicholas and at Christmas. Through the oblast branches of Soyuz Ukrainok of Ukraine, donors contributed $46,000 to this program.

From all regions of Ukraine, 182 children of various ages give thanks for the gift of three weeks of clean Carpathian air and many fond memories of a wonderful camp vacation. The contribution to this program was $30,600.

With words of deep gratitude 98 children - victims of the airplane accident near Lviv and those orphaned due to the accidents in the mines of the Donbas - thank donors for opening their hearts to them at the moment of a great tragedy in their young lives. Each child received a $250 gift.

Funds to cover the cost of various medical treatments and surgeries for children in Ukraine were provided as well. Aid was supplied to crippled children in medical institutions, with only Sister Maria Bernarda to visit them on a regular basis. Donors' contribution paid for new parts for existing equipment and new instruments for the Lviv specialized children's hospital.

There are women who distinguished themselves as Ukrainian patriots during the Soviet regime - they spent years in the camps of the Gulag. There are grandmothers who are raising little children forsaken by their parents. These and others too numerous to mention, received assistance for a total of approximately $48,000.

We encourage readers to continue to support these efforts spear-headed by the UNWLA. Our general fund accepts donations for grandmothers, orphans, the Chornobyl Fund for medical assistance and the "Milk and Roll" breakfast program for the youngest schoolchildren of Ukraine - a program that takes care of 11 schools located in Luhansk, Kharkiv, Yalta, Zhytomyr, Lviv and Zakarpattia oblast.

With the new year, we express thanks to all our supporters and hope for a better future for our homeland - Ukraine.

Barbara Bachynsky chairs the UNWLA Social Welfare Committee.

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