President’s Report
The Washington Group Annual Membership Meeting
Adrian B. Pidlusky
29 May 2009
TWG continues to be active and strong force of the Ukrainian community in our nation’s capital. This report lists some of our accomplishments since the last Annual Membership Meeting in 2007.
Our first event since last year’s Annual Meeting was in June 2007. Since then, we have held or co-sponsored a number of events in the Washington, DC area. In June 2007, we co-sponsored with the Ukrainian Engineers’ Society of America, the Taras Shevchenko Scientific Society, and the Ukrainian Free Academy of Sciences at the Embassy of Ukraine a talk entitled “Fiery Crunch or Frigid Void? - Cosmological Reflections on the Ultimate Fate of Our Universe,” by Oleksa-Myron P. Bilaniuk Centennial Professor of Physics Emeritus, Swarthmore College, Foreign Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
Unfortunately, soon after the last meeting, I needed to go take care of my mother for 4 months in upstate NY from which distracted me from performing the duties of the President.
In February, 2008, TWG also co-sponsored a talk entitled “Holodomor - The Ukrainian Genocide (1932-1933): Witness Account and Awareness Today” featuring Eugenia Dallas, author of “One Woman, Five Lives, Five Countries” and E. Morgan Williams, founder and trustee of the "Holodomor: Through the Eyes of Ukrainian Artists Exhibition and Education Collection.
TWG proudly co-sponsored in April Taras Chubai, a singer-songwriter-poet from Kyiv, "Svitlo i Spovid: Light and Confession" as part of the Kennan Institute/Harriman Institute Ukrainian Literature Series, at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.
In April, TWG co-sponsored the U.S. Ukraine’s Business Council’s workshop "Ukraine's Hot It Industry Moving Forward" featuring several industry experts at the Capital Hilton Hotel. Ukraine's Ambassador to the United States, Oleh Shamshur opened the workshop.
In September, TWG sponsored and organized, thanks to the help of Andriy Blokhin, The in conjunction with the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation, the U.S. Ukraine Business Council, and the Ukrainian American Environmental Association, a panel of speakers on “Energy Options for Ukraine”. They discussed options for Ukraine to become energy independent, including energy efficiency, renewable energy, fossil fuels, and nuclear power. The purpose of the discussion is to explore sustainable energy options for Ukraine and raise public awareness on the energy issues facing Ukraine today.
At the Embassy of Ukraine in November, TWG co-sponsored “Ukraine in the Global Food Economy” with the District of Columbia Chapters of Ukrainian American Bar Association (UABA) Ukrainian Engineers’ Society of America (UESA), Ukrainian Medical Association of North America (UMANA) featuring a variety of experts in the field.
In December, the Taras Shevchenko Scientific Society and TWG hosted “Polityka i Pamyat': yak v Ukrayini dyvlyat'sya na zminenu istoriyu Druhoyi Svitivoyi Viyny po 1990 rotsi" a talk held in Ukrainian by speaker: Dr. Vladyslav Hrynevych, University of Kyiv at the U.S. Ukraine Foundation.
In March 2009, TWG co-organized flowers laying ceremony at the Taras Shevchenko monument in honor of Taras Shevchenko’s birth and death anniversaries along with the Embassy of Ukraine, Ukraine Citizens International Association, US Ukraine Foundation, U.S.-Ukraine Business Council, and other organizations.
Also in March, TWG co-sponsored 'The English Surgeon' film pre-release screening at the Embassy of Ukraine together with the World Federation of Ukrainian Medical Associations. The internationally acclaimed documentary film beautifully shot in intriguingly cinematic settings of Ukraine was opened by the English surgeon Dr. Henry Marsh, as well as Eyeline Films producer Geoffrey Smith.
The Cultural Fund has sponsored several quality events since this time last year as described in its report under the capable direction of Christine Kinal.
We hold Ukrainian Socials the first Friday of every month at the Smithsonian Sculpture Garden on the National Mall June through September. We changed our off-season Socials venue to Ulah’s Bistro at 1214 U Street NW. These events are well attended Ukrainians and their friends and provide a venue for networking and strengthening existing relationships.
We are often invited by the Embassy of Ukraine to meet with high level dignitaries along with other national diaspora leaders. We maintain our good relations with the Embassy.
Over the last few years, TWG’s assets have increased by 30% since 2005 and 52% since 2006. At least not spending more than we take in was my main focus over the last couple of years.
Many deserve praise for TWG’s vitality. We especially thank the prior TWG Cultural Fund Director Marta Zielyk who let go her post last summer. This year, we gained a new Membership Director, Oksana Yakovenko, who puts in many volunteer hours. This entails maintaining the database, responding to requests for information, and coordinating the acceptance of new members. Hence, she is our association’s liaison and first interface to potential new members. Her value and contribution is underappreciated.
I thank Tanya Kramska, who transitioned from our webmaster to our Fellowship Fund Director. She takes the initiative to coordinate, collect, and forward the top applications to the Embassy for the last couple of years.
Oleksiy Synelnychenko, despite the birth of a child in his family, continues to devote his time to maintain one of most public faces of our organization, the website. Oleksiy has also helped in fundraising for TWG by allowing for advertisements on the website. As a skilled information technology professional, he is able to broadcast our events live on-line to a world audience as he did for our Energy panel. Oleksiy also distributes our announcements via electronic mail regularly with his well-designed Bulletin. We now have Paypal online thanks to his efforts. The website is an efficient communication tool and well worth the investment. Updating the website in such an active organization as ours is no small effort.
TWG’s Business Development Forum continues its activities Director Andriy Bihun representing TWG at a variety of events. Svitlana Kozyr continues in her capacity as a reliable treasurer. Mykola Babiak timely prints, labels, and distributes numerous announcements and member packages. Ken Bossong maintains our growing e-mail list. Oleg Jershchkowsky distributes TWG flyers at his vendor stand at Ukrainian functions, and our Vice President Arthur Belendiuk competently edits TWG letters and written communications.
I will let the next president speak of his plans. The Taras Shevchenko School of Ukrainian Studies has requested our assistance in organizing a Malanka and Debutante Ball in January 2010. Our socials will continue regularly.
Although the economy took a hit late last year, all of TWG’s members and donors deserve appreciation for their generosity. I look for ways to market TWG’s assets and coordinate resources with other organizations. I seek co-sponsors to host future events to increase cost-sharing. I request all members receive our announcements via e-mail instead of by post to cut mailing costs. I hope soon to offer our members the ability to update their information on-line to save mailing costs and database maintenance time. My priorities have been 1) raise revenue, 2) hold more events, 3) recruit volunteers, 4) invest and spend within our means, and 5) share resources. I like to think that I have been successful in most of these.
Unfortunately, personal and professional obligations force me to regrettably take a hiatus from the TWG presidency for the time-being. However, I am sure that my successor will take and carry the mantle of our success into the future. I personally thank all of you for your trust and support, and I hope to continue to remain active as much as I can in the future.
