Ukrainian National Association, Inc

The Ukrainian National Association, Inc. (UNA) is a North American fraternal organization that was founded in Shamokin, Pennsylvania on February 22, 1894. It was established during the first wave of immigrants from the territories of today’s Western Ukraine to the United States and Canada. Originally known as the Ruthenian National Union, it was partly established to counter the influence of the Hungarian-oriented Greek Catholic Union of the USA. The Union adopted the newspaper Svoboda (Liberty) as its organ and sought to develop a distinctly Ukrainian identity. It offered to provide for material needs, such as funeral expenses and care for destitute members while also promoting Ukrainian culture. The Union later changed its name to the Ukrainian National Association in order to assert a specifically Ukrainian ethnocultural identity. The UNA has more than 50,000 members in the United States and Canada, who own over $170 million in life insurance protection in the UNA. Its headquarters are in Parsippany, New Jersey.