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LESSONS OF HISTORY ON THE EVE OF THE UNWLA’S DIAMOND JUBILEE by MARTHA BOHACHEVSKY CHOMIAK In the last few years, I have had the great pleasure of digging into the written record of the UNWLA, an exercise that gives me a wonderful vantage point from which to view the achievements of the organization. Sometimes, if I suspended a sense of time while reading the minutes of the 1930s, I felt they could be about today. Please do not misunderstand me. It does not mean we are treading water. It means we are helping our society move with the tide. How many organizations can boast that type of continuity? The Ukrainian National Women's League of America was founded in 1925, in actuality, the result of a fusion of a number of American-Ukrainian women's organizations, enacted to make possible Ukrainian representation at international gatherings. At the Triennial Meeting of the International Council of Women in 1925, it was necessary to defend Ukraine's claim to independence from both Poland and Moscow controlled Ukrainians. This activity continued and expanded. Without the UNWLA, until the most recent years, Ukrainian presence on the international women's arena would not have been possible. Let me briefly mention our major achievements. First and foremost is the extent of real financial support for our fellows in Ukraine and in countries outside the United States. From its beginning, the UNWLA has channeled direct funds to various needs as they emerged. For instance, support for flood victims in Western Ukraine was collected in 1927 and then again, for the same area, in 1998. Had Ukraine not been a colony, more would certainly have been done for flood control and the population would not have had to rely on volunteer organization support fifty years later. We have to be proud of this aspect of both diplomatic and economic volunteerism of our organization. Equally substantial has been UNWLA philan thropic aid to orphans, widows, students, displaced per sons and other refugees. Equally important has been our aid to institutions abroad, such as schools, hospitals and orphanages. As you see, we help others and help them more than we help ourselves. Service is very much our motto. Generations change, language usage changes, but the basic idea of service does not change. During the first decade of the organization, the UNWLA was very much a venue for women to get together and support themselves emotionally. In a very real fashion, UNWLA branches were clubs for women, a haven where they could be themselves on their own terms - Ukrainian-American women. The geographical dispersal of our members has reduced somewhat this aspect of our activity. The creation of our UNWLA web page and the expansion of e-mail communication may help recreate this sense of community. This brings me to another aspect of continuity in our organization — complaints that we work on behalf of others, not for ourselves. From the thirties, a specific criticism has surfaced most frequently: We do not take our organization seriously. We do not place our organization on top of the list of those to which we belong or those which we support. The strength of our organization lies in our ability to fulfill the emotional needs of Ukrainian American women. Helping others is in our nature. But let's not forget that we have to help ourselves to keep the tradition of service of the UNWLA going. Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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