by Petro Hewka

The Philadelphia Chapter of the UESA held its Annual Meeting at 3 pm on Sunday, June 6, 2004 at the Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center (UECC) at 700 Cedar Road in Jenkintown, PA. The meeting was opened by Metodij Boretsky, PE, president of the chapter. After approval of the meeting program, the members present elected Dr. Yaroslav Zalipsky as Meeting Chairman, and Dr. Petro Hewka as Recording Secretary.

The reports of outgoing board members were accepted unanimously. A highlight of the reports was the great success of the 2004 Philadelphia Engineers' Debutante Ball, which was described in the previous issue of this newsletter. Attendance at the ball was more than double that of the previous year.

The new chapter officers were elected as follows:

Chapter Board:

• Metodij Boretsky - President
• Petro Hewka - Vice President, Corresponding Secretary
• Orest Shwed - Recording Secretary
• Marta Shyprykevych - Treasurer
• Laryssa Zaika - Events Coordinator
• Wolodymyr Horbowy - Organizational Coordinator
• Alex Jarymovych - New Membership Coordinator
• Oleh Ciuk - Property Manager (Hospodar)
• Mychailo Komanowsky - Archivist
• Myron Bilas, Ihor Kowaliw - Members

Supervisory Committee:

• Ihor Chyzowych - Chairman
• Myron Bilas
• Daria Lissy

Judiciary Committee:

• Stepan Romanko - Chairman
• Lev Stadnychenko
• Vasyl Kaminsky

Nominating Committee:

• Borys Pawluk - Chairman
• Orest Shwed
• Daria Lissy

New Membership Development Committee:

• Petro Hewka - Chairman
• Alex Jarymovych - New Membership Coordinator
• 3 additional members, to be named later

A new budget was adopted for the 2004-2005 fiscal year, with provisions made for significant donations from the chapter to several Ukrainian organizations, both in the USA and in Ukraine.

During the discussion period, several major issues were raised which are a concern to our members.

* Should provision be made for liability insurance for the Chapter Board members? This issue will be further examined after the summer recess. There is some concern for liability if an accident occurs at a UESA sponsored event, such as the annual picnic.

* Chapter membership has been declining. A committee to examine this problem and propose methods for increasing membership was proposed, and was approved by the members. This committee, the New Membership Development Committee as listed above, is to prepare and present plans to the entire Board by the end of September 2004.

This is an issue affecting not only all chapters of the UESA, but also other Ukrainian organizations in the USA. The specific issues to be addressed are recruitment of new student members, as well as members from the "4th wave" of new arrivals from Ukraine. Several suggestions were made, such as helping to organize student chapters at some of the many colleges and universities in the Philadelphia area: Drexel, Penn State, Univ. of Pennsylvania, Temple, etc.

It was also suggested that reunions of Ukrainian graduates of some of these universities, and specifically Drexel University, where there are several Ukrainian professors, be organized at the UECC, with the involvement of the UESA.

The meeting was followed by a social gathering of the membership, with liquid and solid refreshments organized by the outgoing "hospodar", Myron Bilas.

The new Chapter Board officially assumed its duties at a special board meeting held on June 9, 2004.