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- Ukrainian Woman More Unity Urgently Needed During her tenure of office as a UNWLA Organization Chair man, this w riter has had an op portunity to observe the UN WLA constituency in all its ra m ifications . . . through the ac tivities of individual members, branches, regional councils and the executive board. W hat she saw and heard gave her some cause for concern about the fu ture of the UNWLA and the m eaning of our organization to the membership. W hat does a member seek when she joins the UNW LA? Many j oin because they have the natural desire of m ost hum ans to belong to some group. Others have a sense of identity w ith their Ukrainian brethren throughout the world and wish to perpetuate our precious cultu ral heritage and pass it on to our children. Others seek from our organizations som ething of in terest, a challenge, an opportun ity for grow th and even to speak for us and for helpless U krain ian womanhood behind the Com m unist Iron Curtain. We have seen much effort ex pended by the central office and the regional councils in setting up scores of projects for the membership, but the fulfillm ent of these has been ham pered for many reasons. One reason is th a t the branches enjoy a great deal of autonomy, which is as it should be, but unfortunately it often works to the detrim ent of the organization as a whole. All our branches hold their pro gram s and activities under the aegis or auspices of the UN WLA branches. However, in many cases, the proceeds re alized from such events do not enure to the benefit of the UN WLA but to other organizations or pet projects. These branches feel their responsibility to the central organization is ended when they make their responsi bility to the central organization is ended when they make their obligatory paym ents and contri bute a nominal sum to some UNWLA fund. But the great amounts go to their favorite charities because the general m embership does not compre hend fully its role in the orga nization. However, it m ust be stressed th a t the UNWLA does not suggest for a moment th at members should not support out side charities or w orthy projects but if certain members wish to aid a favorite one they could work directly with such a group, outside the UNWLA, either through auxiliaries, special com m ittees, etc. But charity begins at home! Still other branches collect money over the years and keep it lying fallow instead of invest ing it in some w orthy UNWLA projects. This does not include money used for benefit funds for members. Then there are branches as a treadmill, who continue with program s which are ineffectual, instead of participating in new and stim ulating ones. Others squander their efforts on acti vities which do not serve much purpose. Then, some American branch es are ju st not interested in w hat is taking place in enslaved Uk raine or in the status of our indigent and ill displaced per sons who are dispersed all over the world. Are we to forget about these less fortunate ones, does our charity have boundary lines? (Hadassah, for example, the world’s largest women’s Zionist group, not only informs its membership about current national and international events, but it attem pts to engen der within members a deeper understanding of their Jewish heritage. Also, it prides itself th a t its 1350 chapters “dream of oversubscribing” their quotas to m eet the annual nine million dollar budget for projects in Is rael and for Jews in the diaspo ra.) Therefore, as they see other women’s organizations surging ahead in membership, w ith their own buildings, old folks’ homes, educational, social and welfare program s, more and more UN WLA m embers are becoming alarmed at the lack of unity among segments of our m em ber ship. We “Soyuzanky“ are proud of belonging to the UNWLA, else we would not be members. But we m ust recognize the nec essity for cooperation w ith the central office and the im perative need for building a strong united organization w ith a common goal instead of each branch sprouting off on its own. The UNWLA cannot achieve the broad objec tives and ideals desired by us all if the branches do not cooperate w ith headquarters in implement ing its projects. We m ust realize we are not private clubs . . . WE ARE COMPONENT PARTS OF A W H O LE! W hat could some of these pro jects be? Many of those we have at present could be continued, but others could be initiated into a broad-scale program . To list a few possibilities: — we could strive fu rth er to preserve our cultural heritage and make it a p art of the Amer ican cultural pattern by greater participation in local American community pro g ram s; — establish a social service program to aid the poor, sick and elderly, and act as a source of inform ation and aid for peo ple who do not speak English well or who need help in an emergency . . . members could receive some prelim inary social НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ — ЛИСТОПАД, 1965 19
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