Carassauga 2012

Kids working on their entries to the Fat Cat colouring contest.

Mississauga Branch Manager Lesya Babiy
and MSR Zoriana Bikusov

Dormition of the Mother of God Ukrainian Catholic Church (St. Mary’s) hosted the Ukrainian Pavillion for Carassauga again this year. The 27th edtion of Carassauga, which took place between May 25-27, featured over 60 different cultures this year. As always, UCU, as major sponsor of the Ukrainian Pavillion, took an active part in the festival, hosting the Fat Cat colouring contest and raffling off a BBQ.

The Ukrainian Pavillion promised to "engulf" guests by the traditional spirit and hospitality of the Ukrainian people. Visitors saw the energy and excitement of the Barvinok Ukrainian Dancers, the Zoloti Struny Ukrainian Youth Ensemble and other entertainment

Maria Trynoga, right, won the BBQ raffl

At the UCU table, children had a chance to participate in the Fat Cat colouring contest and get neat gifts like some exclusive UCU Thundersticks. 

For more picutures of the event, please visit the album titled: Carassauaga 2012 on our Facebook page.

To learn more about other events at St. Mary's Church, please visit their website: www.stmaryscawthra.com

Grand Prize winner

Grand Prize winner Danylo Dmytrasz dropped by the Mississauga Branch last Friday to pick up his Kindle Fire.

Danylo Dmytrasz accepts his prize from  Maria Binczarowska

Also, earlier this week, Jordan Elcheson, who won the Kindle in our Thunder Bay branch, received his prize from Christian Petersen, Business Development Manager at the Thunder Bay Branch.

Kindle winner Jordan Elcheson (right) and Christian Petersen

For  additional posts about the contest  please read:

Windsor Branch awards its Kindle  
London branch winner picks up his Kindle
More Kindle winners claim prizes, and
First Kindle winner claims prize

For all pictures of previously announced winners, please go to our Facebook page at the album titled e-Statement contest Kindle winners.

Please note, for those of you that use online banking and still receive paper statements, we will be moving to an exclusively e-statement based model over the course of the summer.

Credit Union Ad Campaign

Michigan's credit unions are running their largest ad campaign ever this year and although this ad is for Michigan state it's true of all credit unions especially here at UCU. Enjoy!



Here is there second video in the series:
 

Windsor Branch awards its Kindle

Doug Gill, long-time UCU member and local business leader, dropped by our branch last week to pick up his Kindle. Branch Manager Mike Kryworuchko was on hand to congratulate him on his good fortune and to thank him for choosing not to receive paper statements in the mail. Doug and his wife Valerie along with Valerie's brother Tony are owners of Blaks Bakery where the branch gets Packzi (pampushky) every year.

Doug is among a growing number of our members who have been switching over to e-statements as a way to reduce the clutter of paper bills coming in the mail. As a side benefit, they are helping the credit union reduce the costs of printing and mailing statements every month which improves profitability and gives us greater flexibility on setting interest rates in today's competitive market.

For additional posts about the contest  please read:

London branch winner picks up his Kindle
More Kindle winners claim prizes, and
First Kindle winner claims prize

For all pictures of previously announced winners, please go to our Facebook page at the album titled e-Statement contest Kindle winners.


Please note, for those of you that use online banking and still receive paper statements, we will be moving to an exclusively e-statement based model over the course of the summer.

FatCat Colouring Contest Entries!

FatCat is so happy with the entries he's receiving for the colouring contest! See all of our contest entries HERE on our Facebook page. If you would like to enter it's not too late! Just CLICK HERE for the contest details.

Good luck!

London Branch winner picks up his Kindle

Oleksandr Ilyashevych came by to pick up his Kindle this week at our London Branch. He says it is the first time in his life he's ever won anything! As a thank you, he brought the staff a lovely box of chocolates. Thank you!

The winners were selected from among members who do not receive paper statements. The prizes were randomly drawn - one per branch and one grand prize that was selected from among all members who do not receive paper statements. You can read about the contest on our web site here: Had Enough? Time to get rid of your paper statements.

For additional posts about the contest please read: More Kindle winners claim their prizes and First Kindle winner claims prize


For all pictures of previously announced winners please go to our Facebook page to the album titled e-Statement contest Kindle winners.

Please note, for those of you that use online banking and still receive paper statements, we will be moving to an exclusively e-statement based model over the course of the summer.

More Kindle winners claim their prizes

Several more winning members have now dropped by to claim their Kindles.

Kim Drake accepts her Kindle from St. Demetrius Branch Manager Luba Kapeluch

St. Catharines Kindle winner Irene Mychaskiw accepts her prize from Alicia Ritchie

The winners were selected from among members who do not receive paper statements. The prizes were randomly drawn - one per branch and one grand prize that was selected from among all members who do not receive paper statements. You can read about the contest on our web site here: Had Enough? Time to get rid of your paper statements.


For pictures of previously announced winners please go here: First Kindle winner claims prize.

Please note, for those of you that use online banking and still receive paper statements, we will be moving to an exclusively e-statement based model over the course of the summer.

SUSK Congress 2012 - Day 2

Friday May 11 is the day where the bulk of the serious business of the SUSK Congress took place.

The morning started with a talk by Orysia Sushko C.M. who spoke about the tragedy of human trafficking. During her seminar titled "Against their will: The reality of human trafficking" she spoke about the root causes behind the criminal business of selling people into sexual servitude. She talked about the work that Ukrainian organizations in Canada and around the globe have dome in bringing attention to this issue. She also showed the trailer of a recent documentary on the subject that was directed by Larissa Kondracki titled "The Whistleblower". After the talk, students were able to break out into groups to discuss what they could do at the local level to help the victims of trafficking.

Orysia Sushko C.M.

The next speaker was Taras Zalusky, Executive Director of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. He talked about the organizations work consulting the Canadian government on issues that are of interest to Ukrainian-Canadians. He also talked about UCC's efforts to reach out to the next generation of community leaders and welcomed SUSK members to consider working with UCC in their Ottawa headquarters.

During the breaks, Vlad Pasternak, MSR at our St. Catharines branch,
was on hand to answer questions about UCU, our services and what we can offer
to help student organizations

SUSK is the New Steel

The SUSK Congress 2012 kicked off with a an opening reception at the Honest Lawyer restaurant in Jackson Square in downtown Hamilton. Executives from various university clubs across Canada made presentations about their clubs' activities over the past year. It was an opportunity for clubs to compare notes and exchange ideas according to Mike Hrycak of McMaster University, who is the SUSK External Relations Director.

Michael Zienchuk, Manager Wealth Strategies Group at UCU, greeted the students and thanked them for their past participation in the first two UCU Investment Challenge. He pointed out that student participants as a group did very well during the competitions with several winning prizes. He pointed out the Lara Franko who won 3rd place in the first round is one of the delegates at this year's SUSK Congress.

"I was very impressed by the professionalism of the students that I met tonight," said Michael. "These are the future leaders both of the Ukrainian community and of Canada in general and these kinds of conferences give them a great opportunity to network and learn from each other." He was particularly impressed by one young gentleman, an engineering student at Waterloo, who came by to ask about advice on patenting and funding some intellectual property he has developed. "Entrepreneurial spirit like that is very encouraging."

More pictures from the congress are available on our Facebook page in the album titled: SUSK is the New Steel album.

Visit www.susk.ca for more information about SUSK.

UCPBA's AGM @ Durie Location

Tuesday May 8th the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Association of Toronto had their annual general meeting at our office on Bloor and Durie. If you are interested in joining the UCPBA click HERE for their website.

More pictures from the evening are available on our Facebook page in the album titled:  UCPBA of Toronto AGM @ UCU Durie Location

Things you didn't know about UCU members

Spot light on:

Roxolana Chwaluk

UCU member Roxolana (Rox) Chwaluk is using her passion for the arts to empower people in various communities all over the world. The Brock University Dramatic Arts and Sociology teaching assistant is a co-founder of Turn Around Projects of the Arts (TAP), a not-for-profit organization with a mission to create and maintain art programs that result in a reciprocal exchange among participants of the program, strengthen communities through the arts and provide participants the tools to become leaders in their communities.

Do you remember the huge chemical catastrophe that occurred in at a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal India in 1984? Much like in Chornobyl, the effects of this disaster continue to plague the victims almost 30 years later. Rox began a TAP project in Bhopal, India in December of 2011 at the Sambhavna Trust clinic. The TAP team offered arts programming (visual art, photography and crafts) to chemical spill survivors (clinic users), clinic staff, and local children.

“Whether we have one or 40 or 300 people participating, we want them to have that moment where they¹re taken away from the thought of why they’re at the clinic. If they can live in that moment with us to create a piece of art, we’ve been successful,” said Rox, before heading to Bhopal.

This is not an idle wish. The community continues to suffer from contaminated water sources and from persistent medical conditions brought on as a result of the accident. While art will not cure the underlying conditions, it helps people cope with the realities of life post-catastrophe.

After returning from India, Rox was nominated, and now currently sits on the International Advisory Board for the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal – North America (ICJB NA) as the Volunteer and Leadership Development Coordinator. Rox hopes that TAP will return every December to Bhopal, India.

Currently, TAP has 3 projects running. A Canadian project in St. Catharines, Ontario at The RAFT, a Jamaican project that is currently in its 6^th year, and India. TAP has had many discussions about piloting a project in Ukraine. If you are interested in creating a TAP Project in Ukraine, please email Rox at rox@turnaroundproject.ca.

Rox, formerly of Toronto, is a regular visitor to our St. Catharines branch. We are all proud of her work.

You can read more about Rox’s work here: TAP heads to India and TAP changes the world through art.

You can read about TAP here: http://www.turnaroundproject.ca/

Thank you to The Brock News for information about Roxolana and the photo.

Oshawa branch celebrates 1st anniversary

A picture of the treats that Shanna made for the anniversary

Yesterday (May 7) and today the Oshawa branch marked their first anniversary at their new premises at 245 King St. West. Lida Hawryluk and her team decided to do something special to mark the date.

"We really didn’t want to just do a cake, so thought about giving out cupcakes…," said Lida. In the end, Shanna Baran spent Sunday afternoon making milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and white chocolate flowers, putting them into little treat bags, tying with ribbon and attaching a little card to each.

Lida says the members who came in yesterday were very happy to be a part of a successful first year at the new location. 

More pictures are available on our Facebook page in the First Anniversary at Oshawa album.

First Kindle winner claims prize

Dmytro Panukhnyk, member at our Oshawa branch accepts his prize from
Branch Manager Lida Hawryluk. Thanks for going paperless Dmytro!

The very first person to claim their prize for no longer receiving a paper statement in the mail is:

Dmytro Panukhnyk of our OSHAWA Branch!

We just finished up our most recent contest. Members who no longer receive paper statements in the mail were eligible to win one of 12 Kindles. The prizes were awarded in a random draw - one per branch and one grand prize that all paper-statement-less members were eligible to win. You an read about the contest on our web site here: Had Enough? Time to get rid of your paper statement.

Lee-Ann Therien was elated to find out she was the Kindle winner at our Sudbury branch.

We will be announcing the names of the winners over the next few days as we are able to contact them and inform them of their wins. More photos of winners will be posted on our Facebook page as they become available here: e-Statement Contest Winners

Other winners who have now been informed of their prizes are: 

Grand Prize Winner:  Danylo Dmytrasz 

Oshawa Branch Winner: Dmytro Panukhnyk 

Subdury Branch Winner: Lee-Ann Therien 

St. Demetrius Branch Winner:   Kim Drake 

St. Catharines Branch Winner:  Irene Mychaskiw 

London Branch Winner:   Oleksandr Ilyashevych

Windsor Branch Winner:   Doug Gill

Thunder Bay Branch Winner:   Jordan Elcheson

Mississauga Branch Winner: Peter Stefaniuk  

Bloor Branch Winner:   Andriyka Boshyk

Etobicoke Branch Winner: Juliann Pasztor  

We will post pictures if and when they become available.

It just so happened that several minutes after the Oshawa branch was informed of which member at their branch won the Kindle, he walked in the door and this just moments after Dzvinka tried to reach him by phone. Coincidence? Spoooky!

SUSK Congress is right around the corner!

Can't wait for the SUSK Congress next week! Check out their video below. See you there!

UCU @ Toronto FC Game!

It was a cold but great day cheering on the Toronto FC with our friends the USC Karpaty!
Even though Toronto FC didn't win against Chicago Fire we all had a great time cheering in the stands with our UCU Thunderstix! 

For more pictures from the event check out our Facebook page HERE!