UECC Recent News

June 2008

The Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center along with the Ukrainian Heritage School celebrated a hot Ukrainian Children's Day on Saturday, June 7, 2008 with a short program, raffle and wonderfully cool Rita's Water Ice. Andriy Shatynski, the grand prize winner of the UECC Members Only Raffle - one free tuition to the Ukrainian Heritage School, a program of the UECC, was chosen and announced during the program.

(A great way to cool off on a hot day - Celebrating Ukrainian Children's Day with free Rita's Water Ice! Thank you RITA'S!) 

May 2008

The Ukrainian Community of the Greater Philadelphia Area met early Wednesday evening, May 28th, 2008 to witness the historic Holodomor Torch Relay at the People's Plaza directily in front of Independence Mall and the Liberty Bell - the cradle of freedom and liberty. The Torch Relay was the initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the International Coordinating Committee and the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine. The International Holodomor Torch will visit 33 countries. The Torch began its journey in the United States on May 4, 2008 in Seattle, Washington and then after numerous stops in cities with a Ukrainian population, made its way to New York City on May 27, 2008 and arrived in Philadelphia on May 28, 2008. It departed for Baltimore and then concluded its journey on May 30, 2008 in Washington D.C. The flame for the torch was carried in a canister and this canister lit the Holodomor Torch.

(UECC Members and Philadelphia Community light their candles as the Holodomor Rememberance Torch passes.)

Philadelphia Mayor Nutter Proclaims May 28th - "Torch of Rememberance Day"

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter meets with the Ukrainian community and proclaims Wednesday, May 28, 2008 as “Torch of Rememberance Day” stating, “Today, our city commemorates the 75th anniversary o f Ukraine’s Artificial
Famine by welcoming the Torch of Remembrance, which originated in Ukraine and is traveling through 33 countries, including 33 cities of the United States….our city painfully remembers the Ukrainians Artificial Famine of 1932-33 and vows to stand against future tragedies."

(UECC President Borys Pawluk holds the Holodomor Rememberance Torch at City Hall with Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Ukrainian dignitaries.)

April 2008

UECC 28th Annual Banquet

The Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center and the Philadelphia Ukrainian Community celebrated the UECC's 28th Anniversary on Sunday, April 20, 2008. Representatives of the Ukrainian government, the US government and over 30 Ukrainian organizations spent the day honoring the Center's role and function in the Philadelphia area. The UECC thanks Honorable Judge Bohdan Futey for being the guest speaker and Marta Zalizniak for the musical program.

(Guest Speaker - The Honorable Judge Bohdan Futey)

(Borys Zacharczuk, Orysia Hewka, Oleksander Aleksandrovich, Marina Kats, Bohdan Mizak, Natalie Firko, and Borys Pawluk at the annual banquet.) 

March 2008

UECC Meeting with Local Organizations

The Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center held a meeting March 27, 2008 with representatives of all local Ukrainian organizations to discuss the UECC's upcoming plans and vision for the Ukrainian community. The meeting was a continuation of the dialogue established throughout the year.

(UECC President Borys Pawluk speaking at the meeting with local representatives of local Philadelphia organizations.)

Easter

Христос Воскрес! Воїстину Воскрес! Щиро вітаємо членів УОКЦ і українську громаду з Великим Днем Світлого Христового Воскресіння! Зичимо щастя кожній родині, міцного здоров'я, добробуту, творчої наснаги в усіх справах в ім'я розквіту нашої Батьківщини - суверенної України!

UECC Annual Easter Bazaar

The Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center (UECC) opened its doors early Saturday morning March 15, 2008, for its annual Easter bazaar and greeted its guests to the sights, sounds, and yes, delicious aromas of Ukraine.
Vendors offered the Philadelphia area community the best of their Ukrainian wares including books, clothing, music, jewelry, art, and pysanky.

The UECC kitchen tempted all with their delicious traditional Ukrainian cuisine including: varenyky (pierogies), holubtsi (stuffed cabbage), kovbasa with kapusta (sausage and sauerkraut), and their famous potato pancakes. With a new system in place and additional volunteers, the kitchen kept up this year with the overwhelming demand for the delicious potato pancakes. The UECC also offered for sale an assortment of baked goods (babkas and pastries) and meats including sausages and hams for traditional Ukrainian Easter baskets.

(Behind the scenes in the kitchen - The popular potato pancakes!)

UECC honors the great prophet and the soul of Ukraine Taras Shevchenko

The soul of Ukraine, the Great Prophet, and inspiration for the Ukrainian people – Taras Shevchenko - was celebrated and honored in Philadelphia on Sunday, March 2, 2008 at the Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center at its annual program. The afternoon event featured a lecture, dramatic readings of Shevchenko’s work, and musical interpretations of Shevchenko’s words with UECC Board Member Ivan Prasko as Master of Ceremonies.

(Akkolada Chamber Choir performs at the UECC annual Shevchenko program.)

January 2008

Shchedriy Vechir with family and friends at the UECC

The Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center celebrated with its members, their families and friends a traditional Ukrainian Shchedriy Vechir, on Sunday, January 27, 2008 at 2:00 pm in the UECC Main Auditorium. Guests enjoyed a delicious traditional Ukrainian holiday meal of borsch, holubtsi, varenyky, kutya, and sweets in honor of the holy day. Performances included the Plast Novatskyj Vertep under the direction of Irena Galai, a Vertep – “Slava Vo Vyshnikh Bohu” by the Bratstvo Molodi from St. Michael the Archangel Church in Jenkintown under the direction of Sister Markella Venher and the “Akkolada” Chamber Choir under the direction of Bohdan Henhalo. UECC members and the Ukrainian Philadelphia community learned about the time-honored Ukrainian winter traditions and celebrated Shchedriy Vechir at the center of Ukrainian life in Philadelphia – at the UECC!

(Plast Novatskyj Vertep performs at the UECC Shchedriy Vechir.)

UECC Malanka Cruise

Setting sail from Miami, Florida for a seven-day Western Caribbean cruise on the Norwegian Sun, the festivities began on Saturday, January 12 and lasted until Saturday, January 19, 2008 while visiting exotic ports of call including Roatan in Honduras, Belize city in Belize, Cozumel in Mexico, and Norwegian Cruise Line’s private island of Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas. Each day on the cruise ship and on land provided UECC members and friends with new adventures, experiences and opportunities for exploration, tourism, and shopping. Making new friends within the traveling group was easy and became a daily occurrence – everywhere one turned, one saw a friendly smiling Ukrainian face (sometimes even wearing the UECC Malanka cruise group t-shirt). The tour was lucky to have a week of great weather and relatively calm sailing. The group, of almost 100 UECC members and friends, from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Florida, and Canada relaxed in the sun, met new people, mingled, bonded and reconnected with old friends and with their positive attitude and good fun contributed to the success of the cruise. 

 (UECC Malanka Cruise 2008 official group photo)

December 2007

New Year's Eve Gala

The Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center celebrated and rang in the New Year with its annual New Year’s Eve Ball on Monday, December 31st, 2007.  Guests enjoyed a hot and cold banquet with an early morning parting buffet while dancing to the Philadelphia’s own “Chetverta Khvylia” Orchestra. The Orchestra entertained all well into the morning and provided a fantastic start to the new year!

(New Year's Eve at the UECC - Dancing the night away!)

UECC Christmas Bazaar

For Ukrainian-Americans, December in Philadelphia means a trip to the Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center’s annual Christmas Bazaar. It’s become a yearly tradition for many and a great opportunity to meet up with old friends, do some shopping and eat some traditional Ukrainian “soul food”. So, that’s where the community headed on Saturday, December 8th, 2007.Throughout the day, performers welcomed guests to the holiday bazaar. The UECC Christmas Bazaar proved to be a success, once again, due to the collaboration of many dedicated individuals - volunteers, staff and members of the UECC Board of Directors.

(UECC volunteers take a short break to pose for a picture during the bazaar.)

UECC Holodomor Food Drive

At this time, the Ukrainian-American community in the United States has joined the international community and Ukraine in commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the Great Famine of 1932-1933 – the Ukrainian Holodomor. The UECC also wanting to help bring attention and pay tribute to the millions of innocent victims of this famine and help obtain recognition of the Ukrainian genocide held a food drive. Nonperishable foods were collected between November 17th and December 8th, 2007, the day of the UECC Christmas Bazaar. The items collected were sorted, packed and were donated to the Ukrainian American Senior Citizen Association of Philadelphia and distributed to needy seniors in our community. 

(Prepared packages of nonperishable food sorted, packed and donated at the UECC commemorating the Ukrainian Holodomor of 1932-1933.)   

November 2007

The UECC Remembers - 75th Anniversary Commemoration of the Holodomor (Famine) 1932-1933 with Induced Starvation, Death for Millions, Genocide.

The Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center (UECC) along with the Ukrainian Heritage School (UHS) and the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America, Philadelphia Regional Branch (UNWLA) commemorated the 1932-1933 Holodomor (Ukrainian Famine) with a solemn program on Saturday, November 17, 2007 in the Main Hall of the UECC. The program featured “Children and the Holodomor”, poems performed by the students of UHS, Maria Kaminska, UHS teacher, and Olya Kostiv, Assistant Director of UHS; “Recollections of those who survived the Holodomor”, Petro Hurskyj; and “Two video film fragments of modern Holodomor Commemorations in Ukraine”, Marta Pelensky, 90th Branch Chair UNWLA. After a short intermission, the program continued with the viewing of the short film “The Unknown Famine” (“Neznanyj Holod”), Taras Hukalo.

(Petro Hurskyj-"Recollections of those who survived the Holodomor") 

UECC Elects New President and Executive Board

The Board of Directors of the Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center elected a new Executive Board Monday night, November 5, 2007. The 2007-2008 UECC Board unanimously re-elected Borys Pawluk to a second year as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation. Also elected unanimously were the following Officers: Secretary – Natalia Griga, Treasurer- Sophia Koropeckyj, Vice- President of Administration – Lubomir Pyrih, Vice-President of Finance – Sophia Koropeckyj, Vice-President of Property and Utilization – George Danyliw, Vice-President of Events – Natalie Firko, and Vice-President of Communications – Borys Zacharczuk.

(from left: Sophia Koropeckyj, Lubomir Pyrih, Natalia Griga, Borys Pawluk, Orysia Hewka, Borys Zacharczuk, Natalie Firko, George Danyliw) 

October 2007

Malanka Cruise Winners Announced

The UECC held its Malanka Cruise Surf and Turf Raffle Drawing on Sunday, October 28, 2007 featuring a surf and some turf prizes. Mr. and Mrs. Homick of Florida won the grand prize, the surf prize - tickets for two with a balcony suite on the Norwegian Sun during the Malanka Cruise sailing the Western Caribbean January 12-19, 2008. They presented the prize to their children. As for the turf prizes: the Hud's of Pennsylvania won a week-end at Hudson Valley Resort and the Stelmach's of New Jersey won a week-end at Soyuzivka.  Mr. Kowalczyn of New Jersey won the cash prize of $100; Mr. Ryndycz of Pennsylvania won the surf and turf dinner from Omaha Steaks but opted for the cash value; and Mrs. Shatynski of New Jersey won a gold and diamond brooch. The UECC congratulates all of the winners!

UECC Holds Annual Meeting

The 28th Annual Meeting of the Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center was held on Sunday, October 28th, 2007 in the UECC Gallery. All candidates for the 2007-2008 UECC Board of Directors were approved with a unanimous vote. All candidates for reelection to the board and co-opted candidates were approved with a unanimous vote as well. The proposed changes to the Bylaws which included an increase in the length of leases, clarification of the Directors' obligation to the Center, clarification of the removal of Directors, clarification of the power of the President, and a revision stating that members of the Audit Committee may not be members of the Finance Committee passed successfully.

(UECC Member Bohdan Todoriv voices his concerns to UECC President Borys Pawluk) 

Ukrainian Voter Registration at the UECC

The UECC took an active role in preparing the Philadelphia Ukrainian community for Ukraine's September 30th Verkhovna Rada Election. It was imperative for those living in the Philadelphia area to vote and to make their voices heard. This special election required a new registration for citizens of Ukraine. The UECC provided forms and information on registration and sent the forms to the Consulate of Ukraine in New York City where the voting took place. Along with providing forms and information on the registration, the UECC organized buses to New York City on Sunday, September 30th.