Clubs and organizations get busy

     The somewhat unusual American holiday Labor Day, which is a day of leisure and not actual labor (except for essential services like police, firefighters, hospital staff, and the sanitation workers picking up garbage, to name a few) is also the unofficial end of summer, i.e., the vacation season. Consequently, the local Ukrainian American community’s clubs and organizations get busy.

    The first is North Port’s Cpl. Roman G. Lazor Post 40 of the Ukrainian American Veterans, whose commander is Eugene A. Tomashosky of North Port. It will have its monthly membership meeting at 3 p.m. Friday at St. Andrew’s Ukrainian Religious and Cultural Center (known as the “Oseredok”), 4100

S. Biscayne Drive, North Port. The agenda of the meeting will include, in addition to the customary reports of officers, a report of the nominating committee and information about the upcoming 67th National Convention, which will take place Oct. 2-5 at the Holiday Inn in Independence, Ohio. The Cleveland UAV Post 24 will be the host of this year’s convention.

    Our Post 40 will play a very important role at this convention because UAV National Commander Ihor W. Hron of Osprey is a Post 40 member and past post commander. Two other Post 40 members are national UAV officers

— National Adjutant Col. Roman Rondiak, USA (Ret.), who is post vice commander and finance officer, and national chaplain and service officer Marian Bojsiuk, who is post chaplain. Yours truly, as past national commander, is also a member of the UAV National Executive Board, but, sadly, I will have to miss this year’s convention due to my wife Katrusia’s illness.
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    The local Branch 56 of the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America, better known as “Soyuz Ukrayinok” (union of Ukrainian ladies), headed by Ann-Marie Susla of Englewood, will hold its first post-vacation meeting at 10 a.m. Sept. 9. The meeting’s location will be communicated to members in due time via email and/or phone.

    The agenda of the meeting will include, in addition to the customary reports of officers and committee chairs, plans and preparation for the traditional and very popular fall picnic, tentatively scheduled for Nov. 19.
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    The Ukrainian American community, including our community in North Port and vicinity, is all excited about the upcoming visit of Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko to our country and a meeting with President Obama on Sept.

18. We all hope that our members of Congress will invite him to address the joint session of Congress. President Poroshenko is the first president of Ukraine who speaks perfect English.

    We hope also that even before President Poroshenko’s arrival, the United States government and other countries that verbally support Ukraine and condemn Russia’s Putin’s war against Ukraine, will live up to their obligation accepted in the 1994 memorandum signed in Budapest. This “Budapest Memorandum” protected Ukrainian sovereignty, provided Ukraine handed over to Russia what nuclear weapons it had in the wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse, which was substantial. Ukraine voluntarily gave up its nuclear arsenal in reliance on the guarantees of the signatories of this memorandum.

    Atanas Kobryn covers the Ukrainian community for the North Port Sun. He can be emailed at atanask@aol. com. 
 

Our Neighbors — The Ukrainians

by Atanas Kobryn