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“НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ГРУДЕНЬ 200 8 23 Branch 54 Marks Its 50th Anniversary Branch 54 Events Committee Roza Duffy, Marianna Kacharai, Orysia Treznewsky On November 2, 2008, Branch 54 of the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America celebrated its 50th anniversary at a gala dinner in Wilmington, Delaware. Branch 54 President Daria Lissy introduced the program, which included an address by UNWLA President Marianna Zajac and a musical presentation by the bandura-playing duo Lada Pastushak and Halyna Bodnar. The center- piece of the program was a memoir about the founding and activities of Branch 54. Written by Areta Skamay, an original member of Branch 54, it was read by Marianna Kacharai, currently the youngest member of Branch 54. Our branch members were pleased at the turnout and that our guests included Ms. Zajac and Christine Chomyn-Izak, president of the Philadel- phia Regional Council, to which Branch 54 belongs. Also celebrating with us were presidents and members of our sister branches and several chair- women of the UNWLA National Board Standing Committees. As the event took place on the eve of the presidential election, Delaware’s Senator Joseph Biden — now Vice President-elect Biden — conveyed his regrets because he was campaigning elsewhere but sent a representative in his stead. Branch 54 became a member of UNWLA, which was formed in 1925 when a number of Ukrainian women’s groups agreed to unite in one national organization in the United States. The immediate impetus prompting the UNWLA’s creation was to help represent Ukrainian women in international women’s forums after Soyuz Ukrainok in the home country lost its membership in the International Council of Women (an umbrella group of national women’s organizations) when the independent Ukrainian state created after World War I ceased to exist. The initial 23 members of Branch 54 were women who had emigrated from Western Europe to the United States in the late 1940s or early 1950s and settled in Wilmington, which had several Ukrainian community organizations but no branch of the UNWLA. The motive force behind the formation of the branch was Olha Harwanko, who had belonged to Soyuz Ukrainok in Ukraine. On her invitation, an officer of the UNWLA National Board came to Wilmington to explain the UNWLA statute and the obligations of branches and to approve the creation of Branch 54. Olha Harwanko was elected the first president of Branch 54 and served in this capacity for 12 years. It is customary for UNWLA branches to adopt the name of a patron, usually a prominent woman cultural leader or activist. Branch 54 de- cided to adopt a name honoring the “500 Heroines,” the 500 referring to the estimated number of women
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