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“НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ЛИПЕНЬ - СЕРПЕНЬ 2020 WWW. UNWLA.ORG 11 In the Beginning by Olenka Makarushka - Kolodiy In 1988, Rev er- end Bohdan Lu - kie, CSsR, pastor of St. John the Baptist Ukrain - ian Catholic Church in New- ark, N.J., came to the realization that it would be a good idea to es- tablish a day care center to help boost the enroll- ment at the par- ish ele mentary school. The center would admit and host children between the ages of thre e and five and would feed into the kindergarten class. A committee to develop and enact this plan was formed. It included Father Bohdan, Daria Knarvik, Marta Popovich, Linda Kleban and Terenia Rakoczy . Each of the mothers in this group had young children and wa s eager to help Father Bohdan. For several months, the committee re- searched the state requirements for a licensed day care center. A presentation was prepared for the parish council, and the chur ch trustees voted to support the endeavor. A budget was appro ved, and the committee began the extensive paperwork re- quired to apply for state licensing. The house next to the rectory on Sandford Avenue was chosen to house the center. However, that house wa s being used by the senior citizens of the parish, so Father Bohdan moved the kindergarten class into the main school building, then moved the senior citi- zens into the gym building, thereby freeing the de- sired space for the day care center. Modest Sobolta designed safety features to meet state specifica- tions for the building and thus began the adven- ture! Daria Knarvik chaired numerous meetings of the committee, working closely with Father Bohdan to facilitate preparation for the opening of the day care cen ter. Marta Popovich followed up on all the paperwork for the license and journeyed to downtown Newark on several occasions to check on the progress of the application process. Linda Kleban designed an interior classroom plan and acquired a do na- tion of car peting. She also pro- cured a micro- wave, which is still heating lun - ches for the chil- dren today. Te - renia Rakoczy gather ed toys and helped with publicity. Olga Try - tyak, who was serving as exe cu- tive education chair of the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America at the time, had also been interested in finding a space for such a day care center. The pre- vailing thought was that the Ukrainian language would be preserved and encouraged in preschool - age children, thus resulting in support for the fam- ilies who were eager to place their children in an environment wher e they would not lose their Ukrainian language skills. Father Bohdan commu- nicated his enthusiasm to Pani Olga who gladly joined the endeavor. She solicited donations from the membership of the UN WLA to purchase chil- dren’s books and to hire Maria Holinaty W ynar- czuk to design Ukrainian themed hand painted decorations for the classroom walls. Pani Olga also prepared a handbook and application for parents. She then compiled a file which included maste r copies of all state - required paperwork. In the spring of 1 989, this writer was asked to join the committee. All of the work was pro- gressing, but the classroom was still bare. Sister Maria Rosmarynowycz, O.S.B.M, principal of St. John’s K - 8 grade school , and I embarked on a seven hour trip to the Childcraft warehou se where we purchased furniture and other items that we squeezed into my car. After carrying everything up the front steps from the car into the classroom building, we were both exhausted! Somewh at con- cerned about the prospect of assembling furniture, I ac tually didn’t sleep well that night. The following day, I stopped into the center to find that Father Bohdan had fastened all the legs onto the seven ta- bles, had assembled the easel and the books tand Father Bohdan Lukie blessing t he premises of St John's Preschool.
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