On January 20, 2019, the Ukrainian community of Chicago celebrated the 100th Anniversary of Ukraine's Act of Unification, commemorating unification of the Ukrainian National Republic and the West Ukrainian National Republic and proclamation of one independent Ukraine which occurred on January 22, 1919. The commemoration was organized by board members of UCCA and was held in the Ukrainian Cultural Center.
The program was led by UCCA Vice President, Marta Farion. Ihor Diaczun, President of UCCA, Illinois Division welcomed the guests. The Rev. Ivan Lymar of St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral delivered the opening prayer.
Special guests included members of US Congress: Mike Quigley, co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, Danny Davis, a frequent visitor in the Ukrainian community and newly elected Congressman Sean Casten. Other guests included by Consul Ihor Bodnar, Consulate of Ukraine; Vice-Consul Laura Stange, Consulate of the Republic of Lithuania; Vice-Consul Piotr Semeniuk, Consulate of the Republic of Poland; Gina Tunar, Chicagoland Qirim Tatar Organization; Manuel Venegas representing Maria Pappas, Cook County treasurer; Dan Patlak, Commissioner, Cook County Board of Review; Saulius Kuprys, President, Lithuanian American Council and the Joint Baltic American National Committee; Romuald Poplawski, Polish Congress of America, Illinois Division; Csaba Zongor, President of the Polish-Hungarian World Federation; Henryk Marciniak, chairman, Road to Peace Foundation.
Vice President, Pavlo Bandriwsky introduced guest speaker Glen Howard, President of the Jamestown Foundation. Kateryna Smagliy, former director of Kennan Institute in Kyiv was introduced by Marta Farion.
One hundred year old historic archival flags from Ukraine's Declaration of Independence were presented by Lida Tkaczuk, President of the Ukrainian National Museum.
The Award ceremony was facilitated by Maria Korkatsch-Groszko and awards for community work were presented to Yuriy Soroka, Dr. Vasil Lonchyna and Dr. Roksolana Lonchyna, Reverend Victor Poliarny, Olya Soroka & Walter Tun. Andriy Dobriansky, director of communications at the UCCA headquarters in New York presented a special award from UCCA to Bohdan Watral, outgoing president of Selfreliance Ukrainian American Federal Credit Union. The finale of the afternoon was enjoyed by all as the SUM choir, under the direction of Taras Popowych, performed a medley of patriotic songs.