Organization for the Defense of Lemkyvshchyna News

The SFULO held its 7th International Congress from August 20 to 22 in Serbia. They elected a new president and presidium and more.

ByDiana Howansky Reilly

May 2022

Past OOL Events

Second Annual OOL College Scholarship Competition

We are proud to announce the commencement of the second annual OOL College Scholarship competition. Below please find instructions for applying by the deadline of July 1, 2022. Please click here for the application.

ByAndriy Khomyk

Mar 2022

Past OOL Events

OOL President Mark Howansky on Ukrainian TV

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ByAndriy Khomyk

Dec 2021

Past OOL Events

OOL Scholarship Award Ceremony

OOL held its Scholarship Award Ceremony on December 12, 2021 in Yonkers, NY. The eight recipients of the OOL Scholarship were: Brianna Chalupa; Kalyna Kuzemczak; Natalia Kuzmiak; Juliana Paslawsky; Julia Pelesz; Sophia Priatka; Lukian Tomaszewsky; and Patricia Wasiczko. The…

ByAndriy Khomyk

Jun 2021

Past OOL Events

OOL College Scholarship

Click here to Apply Now

ByAndriy Khomyk

Mar 2020

Past OOL Events

Organization for the Defense of Lemkivshchyna looks to the future at its 31st National Convention

YONKERS, NY – “Lemkivshchyna may have been destroyed as a geographic entity and others may have tried to stamp out the fire of the Lemkos, but what ended up happening was that sparks from that fire flew everywhere, so that…

ByDiana Howansky Reilly

Mar 2020

Past OOL Events Photos & Videos

XXXI OOL Convention Banquet. Part 2

ByAndriy Khomyk

Mar 2020

Past OOL Events Photos & Videos

XXXI OOL Convention Banquet. Part 1

ByAndriy Khomyk

Jul 2007

Past OOL Events

Ukrainian President opens festival in Poland

President Victor Yushchenko and First Lady Kateryna Yushchenko on Saturday attended a ceremony to open the 25th festival Lemkiwska Watra (Lemko Bonfire) in the Polish city of Gdynia . “I am very happy to be firing this twenty-fifth bonfire together…

ByAndriy Khomyk

May 2008

Past OOL Events

President of ODLWU Z. Halkowycz meets with SFULO President V. Ropeckyi in Lviv

While visiting Lviv in May on a private matter, I telephoned Mr. Volodymyr Ropeckyi and Mr. Olexander Venhrynovych to extend my respects, and requested a meeting with both gentlemen. I suggested we meet for an exchange of views about where…

ByAndriy Khomyk

Jul 2008

Past OOL Events

8th Annual Lemko Vatra in USA

The bonfire at the traditional “Lemko Vatra in the U.S.A.” festival burned for the eighth year in a row, from July 4-6, 2008 at the resort of the Ukrainian Youth Organization, Inc. (CYM) in Ellenville, NY. Each year, this bonfire…

ByAndriy Khomyk

Aug 2008

Past OOL Events

Special Year for Lemko-Ukrainian Organization’s Annual Festival

Three generations of Lemkynia: Melan ia Lozyniak (in front), Diana Howansky, Mary Howansky, Lena Howansky (in back). Since the beginning of 2007, in cities throughout the tri-state area, the Organization for the Defense of Lemko-Western Ukraine (known by its acronym OOL) has…

ByDiana Howansky Reilly

Nov 2009

Past OOL Events

28th National Convention of the Organization for the Defense of Lemkivshchyna

On November 7, 2009, the National Home in Passaic, NJ was decorated festively. It was here that the 28th National Convention of the Organization for the Defense of Lemkivshchyna (OOL) was being held. A greeting of the Convention delegates took…

ByDiana Howansky Reilly

Apr 2010

Past OOL Events

10th, Jubilee Lemko Vatra in Ellenville’s Carpathians

The 10th jubilee Lemko Vatra occurred on July 3rd-4th 2010 in Ellenville (New York). Here gathered representatives of several lemko generations from the United States, Ukraine, Poland and Canada. They assembled because of their longing for the native land, a…

ByDiana Howansky Reilly

Jun 2006

Past OOL Events

Lemko Culture Celebrated at 6th “Vatra” in USA

The Organization for the Defense of Lemkivshchyna (OOL) in the USA. conducted its festival, called the “ Lemkivska Vatra ,” for the sixth year in a row, from June 23-26, at the Ukrainian-American Youth Association, Inc. (CYM) resort in Ellenville,…

ByDiana Howansky Reilly

Oct 2001

Past OOL Events

Ethnic lemko wins precedent case over nationalized property

Last week Poland's Supreme Administrative Court passed a precedent verdict in a case over property confiscated by the state in 1949 from Maria Hladyk, an ethnic Lemko who was compulsorily resettled in 1947 from her village in Beskid Niski (a…

ByAndriy Khomyk