Time for an impact report about our activities on the national level for the months of October-December 2022! The fall and winter of 2022 found the UNWLA in active “winterization” mode. Power outages and destroyed infrastructure make this winter in Ukraine one of the most difficult in 30 years of renewed independence. Since the launch of the “Keep Ukraine Warm” campaign in October, our Branches and Regional Councils have worked tirelessly to raise money and help Ukrainian communities prepare for winter. Their activity will be added to a more detailed impact report after March 2023.
Advocate
November 15-17: Soyuzianky from around the U.S. came to Washington DC to participate in the UCCA-sponsored Ukrainian Days on November 15-17.
December: Two big advocacy pushes for three key Ukraine-related bills engaged many soyuzianky and friends: the Ukraine Supplemental Spending Bill, Designate Wagner as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, and Recognize Russian Actions in Ukraine as a Genocide. The advocacy team also encouraged members to make their voices heard via opinion pieces, providing a step-by-step guide to effective writing techniques.
Educate
November 21: Dr. Kristina Hook (Assistant Professor of School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding, and Development at Kennesaw State University ) and Dr. Emily Channell-Justice (Director of the Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program at the Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University) discussed the Ukrainian Holodomor from the perspective of comparative genocide research. This topic gains new importance of this topic in light of Russia’s ongoing escalation of violence against Ukrainians.
Cultivate
December: The UNWLA provided a mini-grant ($1000) to the Foundation to Preserve Ukraine’s Sacral Arts. Its mission is to train local craftsmen to preserve Ukrainian churches and sacral arts. Recently their mandate has expanded beyond sacral arts to assisting our Lviv-based partners at the Center to Rescue Ukraine’s Cultural Heritage in their efforts to secure and distribute international donations of storage and fireproofing materials to museums, libraries, and places of worship.
December: Continuing the long-standing tradition of sharing traditional Ukrainian embroidery designs, the UNWLA digitized seven authentic embroidery collections published over the decades. Since the 1950s, a monthly design from the collections was printed on the back page of the Our Life magazine. In addition, we release embroidery patterns as old as 1886 to show the richness of Ukrainian folk embroidery. You can explore and download these designs for free.
Care
The most recent UNWLA fundraising initiative aims to raise $500,000 for winter clothes, blankets, sleeping bags, wood-burning stoves, and repairs in Ukrainian homes. Our partners in Ukraine use these funds to purchase and deliver aid for the communities in need.
$158,500 were spent on purchasing wood-burning stoves and generators through AICM-Ukraine;
$210,500 for home repairs, hot meals, and warming centers in Ukraine through Caritas, Lviv Greek Catholic Church, Soyuz Ukrainok Kalush, and Trust Chain;
$40,750 for batteries, generators, and other winter supplies through Medical Corps of the Lviv region, Pray for Ukraine, Zwiazek Ukraincow w Polsce; the Zaporizhzhia community;
Help us reach our $500,000 goal! If you wish to support our efforts to bring warmth to Ukrainian communities, please visit unwla.org/donate.
Besides Keeping Ukraine Warm, we continue our commitment to bring urgently needed medical relief items to Ukrainian hospitals that treat both military and civilians:
$145,500 for external fixators; and
$50,000 for sutures, albumin, wound vac devices, and supplies.
The UNWLA remains a reliable donor for projects that focus on the well-being of little Ukrainians, displaced and traumatized by war:
$20,000 went to fund winter camps and rehabilitation for orphaned and displaced children run by the Lviv Eparchy;
$67,000 support the “Childhood Without War” effort, which now funds education and accommodation for over 2000 Ukrainian children deprived of parental care who have been relocated to Turkey.
Since February 24th, our cumulative tally of expenditures has grown to $2,128,045. UNWLA is a 501 (c)(3) organization; your donations are tax-deductible. Our EIN is: 23-640-4061.
Advocate. Educate. Cultivate. Care
Established in 1925, the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America (UNWLA) is the longest-running and largest Ukrainian women’s organization in the US. Our mission is to promote and develop educational and cultural efforts and provide humanitarian assistance to Ukrainians worldwide. We are guided by principles of Christian ethics, religious tolerance, political non-partisanship and universal respect for human rights.
