SOPOT, Poland–As the attacks by Russia on Ukraine reach their 500th day, CUToday.info has arrived in Poland for what will be a week of reporting on how the country’s credit unions are helping Ukrainian refugees, as well as for additional reporting a planned trip later this week to Ukraine to deliver relief supplies and ambulances purchased in large part as the result of donations by U.S. credit unions.
CUToday.info will be publishing a series of Special Reports this week from the countries highlighting how the donations are being deployed in very human terms.
The series of Special Reports will be sent free of charge to all CUToday.info readers across the country who receive the morning email featuring that day’s news headlines, which is also free. To sign up, go here.
The Special Reports are being made possible thanks to the support of a number of credit unions and solutions providers to credit unions.
CUToday.info’s Frank J. Diekmann will be traveling with Dr. Brian Branch, the former president/CEO of the World Council of Credit Unions, for an update primarily on the support being provided by the Via Stella Foundation, a Polish-American initiative that has provided funds to Poland’s credit unions as they have gone to extraordinary lengths to assist the millions of refugees who have been driven from their homes and crossed the border.
The Via Stella Foundation is being led by Rafal Matusiak, the president of Poland’s national trade association, the National Association of Credit and Savings Unions (NACSCU), who helped to create the foundation along with Branch and Susan Mitchell of Mitchell Stankovic Associates.
Responding to Calls for Help
In a letter sent this week to credit unions by Matusiak he shared that the conflict in Ukraine has escalated and ”civilians in Ukraine have again been driven from their homes and injured. Via Stella is responding to new calls for emergency medical equipment and ambulances for those affected by the fighting.”
Details of that letter and more can be found here.
What Will be Taking Place
The current schedule of events for the week of July 10 calls for:
- Meetings with the team behind the Via Stella Foundation
- Meeting with two Ukrainian families who have been displaced and who are being assisted by credit unions in Poland
- Tentatively meeting with Ukraine’s consul in Poland
- Meeting with those operating an orphanage for Ukrainian children in Garczyn that is receiving CU and foundation support
- Meeting with doctors at a Gdansk women’s health clinic that is serving refugee women
- Travel to the city of Bytom in Southern Poland to meet with a credit union and two refugee families receiving CU support
- Traveling across the border into Ukraine to the city of Lviv to deliver two ambulances and medical supplies purchased by credit unions and the foundation. The ambulances will be turned over to the Ukrainians who will then drive them further east toward the areas under attack
- Returning to Lublin, Poland to participate in a video conference with U.S. credit unions being hosted by Mitchell Stankovic that will offer an update.
All will be updated daily in the Special Report newsletter from CUToday.info.
Making It All Possible
The Special Report from Poland and Ukraine is being made possible by the generous support of AKUVO, Sievewright & Associates, Mitchell Stankovic Associates, Origence, Your Marketing Co., Polish & Slavic FCU, Unitus Community Credit Union and Eagle Community CU. Those interested in placing an ad/helping to support the week-long newsletter series can contact Frank J. Diekmann at Frank@CUToday.info. Any funds beyond those needed to cover expenses will be donated to the foundation.
You Can Now Get CUToday.info’s Daily News Headlines in Your Mailbox at the Low, Low Price of Free
Are you missing out on the latest news in credit unions? Missing the trends and developments you need to be aware of? We can help. Each morning CUToday.info delivers its daily Fresh Today news update offering the latest headlines and breaking news right to your email, with the easy-to-read headlines format allowing you to click on the stories that interest you most in order to learn more.
And it’s free!
If you haven’t yet signed up for the new email solution on which CUToday.info has partnered with ResponseGenius, you can do so here. Signing up requires less than one minute of your time—and it’s free!
Please note that after signing up you may need to go to your Spam/Junk folder and mark the morning headlines email as safe. CUToday.info does not provide its list of readers and emails to outside parties, and we will not be contacting you to sell you an extended warranty or sending you any links so you may cash in on an inheritance you didn’t know was coming.
And did we mention it’s free?
Please note and/or make your IT department or email administrator aware the emails will be coming from the domains CUTodayinfo.com and CUTodayinfoReply.com.