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felt tremendous pride that UNWLA members had so generously responded to our plea for donations to ameliorate their suffering. We also marveled at the capacity of the human spirit to think of others while enduring personal anguish, a feeling that was inspired by one young boy who received help from the UNWLA. When he discovered that his friend's name was not on the list of aid recipients, he immediately went to see Zoriana Bilyk, the president of Soyuz Ukrainok of Ukraine, telling her that he wanted to share his good fortune with his friend. During this trip to Ukraine, I discovered another tragedy—one that was not connected to loss of life but to an imminent threat to Ukraine's cultural heritage. I was informed that the McDonald's restaurant chain was planning renovations on their facility in Dnipropetrovsk, which would destroy a mosaic by artist, patriot, and martyr Alla Horska. When I tried to get in touch with the mayor of the city of Dnipropetrovsk or other elected officials to see what could be done to prevent this desecration, I was told they were all in the hospital. Returning to Kyiv, I was able to reach someone at the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and asked what could be done to preserve Horska's mosaic. I was told that the artist was not under the protection of the government and that nothing could be done. As soon as I returned to New York, I contacted McDonalds headquarters about this matter. I was informed that Horska's “Lady Bird” mosaic was being moved to a different wall and would not be destroyed. While I was happy to hear the news, I was saddened that the preservation of this mosaic was made possible by an American company rather than through the intervention of Ukraine's own government. Commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Great Famine “Holodomor” In the year 2003, we commemorated the 70th anniversary of the great tragedy of the Ukrainian people. The Executive Committee approved my plan that our members should visit their local public libraries to see what books these libraries had on the topic and to encourage the librarians to acquire such books for their collections. Follow-up activities were also proposed to ensure that such materials were borrowed frequently and consistently to show librarians that they were a valuable asset and should remain in circulation. I brought this project to the attention of the Ukrainian World Congress with a request that information related to these activities be disseminated to all the Ukrainians throughout the world in their circular. In this endeavor, the UNWLA was greatly supported by the UWC's President Askold Lozynskyj. In my capacity as UNWLA president, I was invited to speak on the Great Famine at a conference at the Ukrainian Free University in USA. Our Archives Chair, Olga Trytyak, brought to my attention documents that were in our archives reflecting the work of our members during the Famine. There were letters to and from President Roosevelt and his wife and various documents from charitable and religious institutions that replied to the UNWLA's call for assistance for the starving people of Ukraine. They were the foundation of the speech that I delivered at the conference, but they also became the foundation of another UNWLA project. While reviewing them, I realized that they were a treasure that should not be relegated to boxes and stored away from public view. The world had to see them. It was decided that the most important of these documents would be published in the November 2003 issue of Our Life , which was dedicated to the famine victims. The issue was exceptionally well received, not only by members of the UNWLA but by countless other individuals and organizations. Since it was published, we have received requests for the magazine from all parts of the world. Many copies have been sent to learning institutions as a permanent addition to scholarly collections related to this tragic time. I would like to thank artist Lydia Bodnar-Balahutrak for allowing us to use two of her works in this commemorative issue and for preparing the slide presentation that was shown in our branches and Regional Councils. I would also like to express my gratitude to Roksolana Kardinalovska, who designed the sculpture pictured on the front cover of our magazine, and to Professor Taras Hunczak for his insightful editorial. The UNWLA is also grateful to the editors of Svoboda for publishing copies of document from Our Life as a centerfold. Our commemorative issue was also mentioned in The Ukrainian Weekly and America. The speech I delivered at the Ukrainian Free University was subsequently published in Visti UVAN for the year 2004 (page 121). It also appeared in Svoboda in August 2003. 66 XXVII Конвенція СУА www.unwla.org
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