Month: August 30, 2019 5:10 am

CHICAGO – Roman Michael Zavadovych, 78, of Chicago passed away at home, after a long illness, on August 1. He was 78. He lived a life dedicated to his family and friends, and was a voracious proponent of community service.
The son of the late Hanna and the well-known Ukrainian poet and writer Roman Zavadovych, Sr., he was born on May 31, 1941, in Zolochiv, Podillia, Ukraine. He was the husband of 50 years to Natalia (Horalewska) and loving father to daughter Ruslana.

One of the words we hear most frequently is “community.” This newspaper has been “serving the community since 1933.” The word is used not only in the sense of a specific community, such as “the Ukrainian American community,” but also as an abstraction. This is perhaps because we feel we have lost “community” and want to recover it.
But before we can do that, we need to know what it is. One definition of “a community” is “a social group, usually identified in terms of a common habitat… and implying both a body of common interest[s], a degree of social cooperation and interaction in the pursuit of them, and a sense of belonging among the members” (Roger Scruton, A Dictionary of Political Thought, s.v. ‘community’).

In 1977, Soyuzivka, then owned by the Ukrainian National Association, marked its 25th summer season. The jubilee season at the UNA estate began over the American Independence Day holiday weekend, July 2-4, with a special entertainment program that celebrated the anniversary. During the 10-week summer season, scores of young people worked at Soyuzivka, as seen in the group photo above. The summer workers are joined in the photo by Soyuzivka’s managers, Walter Kwas and Daniel Slobodian (seated, respectively, sixth and seventh from right). Today, the property is known as Soyuzivka Heritage Center and it is owned by the Ukrainian National Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that was established as the charitable arm of the UNA in 1992.

WASHINGTON – As the appointment of a new Ukrainian ambassador to the United States is being prepared, Ukrinform discussed a variety of issues regarding U.S.-Ukraine relations with Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States Valeriy Chaly, who will shortly complete his tenure in the U.S. capital. The interview was released by Ukrinform on July 30.

EAST CHATHAM, N.Y.  – Members of the Plast Scouting sorority Spartanky recently celebrated two milestones in their history of service to Plast: the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the sorority’s younger branch and the 25th anniversary of “Pochatkoviy Tabir,” or Beginner’s Camp, a camp founded and led by the sorority since its inception.
For 60 years, the Spartanky sorority has been actively engaged in myriad projects within the Plast and local Ukrainian communities that promote self-discipline, dedication and perseverance in Plast’s youth members by organizing events that promote physical fitness, health and wellness. In addition, the sorority’s efforts include cultural and environmental works held at camps, Plast branches and community centers.

KERHONKSON, N.Y. – The Chornomorska Sitch Sports School was held at Soyuzivka Heritage Center on July 21 through August 3 in two weeklong sessions.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Sitch Sports School, and 30 campers arrived from as far as California to attend.
Coaches Andrew Cymbal (soccer), Alyssa Ziobro (volleyball) or assistant coach Victor Petryna (volleyball) led morning exercises, stressing the importance of stretching for health and safety. Exercises were followed by the traditional flag-raising in front of the Lviv building.

KERHONKSON, N.Y. – As they have each year since 1984, members of Club Suzie-Q gathered at Soyuzivka in the second week of August to reunite with old friends and make new acquaintances. This year’s 26 attendees came from the northeastern U.S., as well as Ottawa and Montreal.
Activities included day trips to Lake Mohonk, Woodstock and Kingston, discussions on Ukraine, hiking at Lake Minnewaska, plus travelogue and nature photography presentations by club members. Members explored area restaurants, enjoyed leisurely breakfasts and dinners in the Soyuzivka dining room, relaxed by the pool and took in scenic mountain views from the Veselka patio.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. – This year, the Ukrainian National Association celebrates the 125th anniversary of its founding on February 22, 1894, in the small town of Shamokin, Pa., where 10 brotherhood organizations united to form a new united organization – the Ukrainian National Association. Following this unification, the UNA began to expand and grow, and today the UNA is one of the oldest and most supportive Ukrainian organizations in North America.

KYIV – During Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official visit to Ukraine on August 19-20, which is being hailed as “historic” by both sides, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cited the two countries’ “long-standing historical ties.”
“Our nations have together experienced all the tragedies of recent history – the Holodomor and the Holocaust, the second world war, the totalitarian Soviet regime,” Mr. Zelenskyy stated.
Mr. Netanyahu, who cited “the excellent relationship between the two countries,” called for stronger ties between Israel and Ukraine, emphasizing, “We can seize the future separately, but we can do it better together.”

A London-based digital forensics agency says it has gathered an enormous body of evidence that Russia’s military was deployed in the August-September 2014 fighting around Ilovaisk, in eastern Ukraine, in which Ukrainian forces were defeated by combined Russian and separatist troops.
Forensic Architecture used “machine learning and computer vision” to amass “the most comprehensive collection of evidence for the presence of Russian military personnel and hardware throughout the battlefield,” its project website states.

NEW YORK – Responding to a question posed by a journalist about whether Russia should be reinstated in the Group of Seven, the world’s largest advanced economies, President Donald Trump said that “it’s much more appropriate to have Russia in [the G-7. …I could certainly see it being the G-8 again. And if somebody would make that motion, I would certainly be disposed to think about it very favorably.”
The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), the representative organization for over 1.5 million Americans of Ukrainian descent, reacted by saying that President Trump “gave the wrong answer.” The president’s comment had come on August 20, while he sat alongside President Klaus Iohannis of Romania in the Oval Office.

Putin, Macron discuss peace prospects Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, have discussed efforts to advance…...