Diaspora community thanks Selfreliance Foundation for its support.
Since its creation in 2005. the Selfreliance Foundation has been providing support to Ukrainian Diaspora organizations with funding from Selfreliance Federal Credit Union. Selfreliance FCU is a cooperative not-for-profit financial institution, whose profits are returned to its members and the community which they serve, instead of lining the pockets of investors. The more its members use its financial products and services, the more the Credit Union is able to donate to the community.
The Foundation faced unique challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic, and even more after February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine.
During the Covid-19 crisis, the Foundation provided support to Ukrainian Churches, whose parishioners were limited to “attending” liturgical services online, outdoors, or indoors with limited, contagion-preventing seating, resulting in decreased revenues. The Foundation also supported community institutions, such as our museums, that needed to maintain their staff and pay other expenses despite a decrease in attendance and income.
When the war broke out, the Foundation created a Ukraine Relief Fund, soliciting donations from members and non-members. Donations were then provided to organizations that supported humanitarian initiatives in war-torn Ukraine. Donations to the Fund to date exceed $800,000. Organizations receiving funds primarily bank at Selfreliance FCU, and the leaders of these organizations are credit union members themselves. Revived Soldiers Ukraine, which provides rehabilitation services to injured Ukrainian soldiers, received $280,000 (RSUkraine). The Ukrainian Medical Association of North America’s Foundation received $265,000 (UMANA Foundation). Several organizations received smaller donations.
Our Ukrainian community partners have expressed their gratitude for the donations they received from the Selfreliance Foundation itself, and from the Ukraine Relief Fund. Attached are several of the letters we received, thanking the Foundation for its support.
The Help Ukraine Fund continues to receive donations. For more information, go to: SFCU Foundation Support Ukraine
