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UNWLA Branch 57 in Utica, new York. Teodozia Sawycka (seatedfourth from left) was a member from 1950 to 1982. perhaps because of her own difficult childhood and certainly because of her traumatic experiences as a refugee and displaced person at the close of World War П. To help the poor, the elderly, orphans, or the sick — this, she felt, was her obligation as a human being and as a Christian, and the UNWLA was the vehicle through which she could do it. It was also probably this motivating factor for her decision to become a social worker in the field of foster care and adoption. My earliest memories of my mother's activities were of her visits to sick members of our parish, visits that she made as social welfare chair of her branch, to hospitals, to mental institutions, to the homebound. I also remember her sending packages and writing letters to elderly women in Germany, as part of the UNWLA's "babusia" program. The UNWLA also offered my mother an avenue for expressing her new found interest in Ukrainian folk arts. She had decided in the early 1950s that she would like to learn to make pysanky and create Ukrainian ceramics. She learned very quickly, and was soon donating her work for UNWLA bazaars. As cultural chair of her branch, she organized exhibits of Ukrainian folk art on the UNWLA's behalf at various venues, including the public library and the local art museum. Armed with an Easter basket and all its contents, she would go on the local morning TV talk show, describing Ukrainian traditions and garnering a little publicity for Ukrainians in general, and for an upcoming Branch 57 bazaar in particular. Sometimes she brought me along. Deeply committed to the Ukrainian political cause, although not a political activist herself, she reverently organized countless UNWLA programs to honor heroes and heroines of Ukrainian history. I vividly recall, attending many of these programs, hearing the stories of Olha Basarab and Olena Teliha, and of the 500 Ukrainian heroines of Kingir in the Gulag, crushed mercilessly by Soviet tanks as they stood in their Ukrainian embroidered blouses, hands linked together. The stories made a big impression on me. These commemorative programs were interspersed with lighter programs like St. Andrew's Eve festivities, concerts and pleasant social events which my mother also enjoyed organizing. In my mother's character, there was an interesting combination of great creativity and imagination coupled with an appreciation for order and structure. A very organized woman herself, she loved the structure of the UNWLA, its methodical, efficient system of implementing its programs, the dedication of its members and officers. A very hard worker, she enjoyed working within the framework of the UNWLA, valued the continuity and stability of the UNWLA's ongoing programs and its no-nonsense approach to problem solving in the community. A great believer in the importance of communication between UNWLA members nationwide, my mother valued Our Life Magazine as an organizational tool and enjoyed it as a source of interesting information. Its arrival at our house was always eagerly awaited. A good writer, she often penned articles for Our Life as well as for other publications in the Ukrainian community on many
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