About Us
History
United Ukrainian American Relief Committee, Inc (UUARC) was established in 1944 and started fulfilling its mission of “brother-to-brother” by assisting Ukrainians in refugee camps during and after WWII, and then helping to resettle more than 70,000 of these refugees in the United States. This program continued on a much smaller scale into the 1960’s and early 1970’s with Ukrainian refugees from Poland and other Eastern European countries. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, the emphasis changed to aid Ukrainian communities in Yugoslavia and South America, especially schools and orphanages. In 1985, a self-sustaining micro-loan land project was established in Brazil, which still exists today and has made more than $1,000,000 worth of loans since its inception. In the 1990’s, responding to the greatest needs of Ukrainians in newly-independent Ukraine survive the hardships they were experiencing during their adaptations from a planned economy under the Soviet Union to a democracy.
Unfortunately, social programs suffered, leaving many in poverty and the social framework broken. As a result, UUARC placed their emphasis on orphanages, schools, hospitals, the sick and elderly, with such projects as the USAID-funded Grant Project for handicapped children, ambulance and medical equipment project, Adopt-a-Grandparent Program and numerous others. Simultaneously, throughout all these years, UUARC has been responding on an individual basis to thousands in need through the Assistance Committee.
Read more about our history below.