By Rafal Matusiak, President — National Association of Cooperative Savings and Credit Unions

Polish American Credit Union Support Fund | Via Stella Foundation https://www.viastella.pl/

September, 2024

Dear Friends,

This month children returned to school. As you know, since 2022 Polish credit unions and Via Stella with your support have supported refugee children and the schools receiving them. This has included school materials for the children, breakfasts and lunches. We have provided Polish lessons for Ukrainian children. We also realized that the younger children may lose their ability to speak their own language and to know their own culture. So Via Stella has also provided Ukrainian language and culture classes for the younger children.

Many children continued to have difficulty adjusting. Learning was hampered by stress related behavioral issues and illness. After experiencing violence, separation from family and home, refugee children have faced social isolation, loneliness, and insecurity. Via Stella has supported the Garczyn orphanage and local Polish schools with psychological assessment and counseling for refugee children.

Our methodology uses art therapy to enable children to work through their emotions with manual art: paints, tissue paper, stickers and plasticine. It was easier for children to talk and trust psychologists during their artwork. The psychologist talked to the children about their emotions, what was happening to them, about their good moments, as well as their difficulties. At the beginning, war themes and those related to Ukraine and their family’s suffering dominated the children’s works.

Black, brown and red colors dominated with entire pages painted with dark colors and shapeless drawings. During the series of counseling workshops, the children started to use a much wider palette of colors in their drawings from yellow, through green, blue and pink.

After a series of counseling sessions, the behavior of the children changed. Initially, the children could not sit still for more than 10 minutes, had difficulty with focusing and with concentration.       In later sessions, the children calmed down and were able to concentrate or focus on creating works of art for about 45 minutes.

Cards were used as a “safe place” tool, which allows for better coping with stress in difficult moments. The children drew a safe/calm place on a card. They could use the card to imagine the safe place in difficult moments in order to reduce stress during their daily lives.

Our work continues to be a collaborative effort of direct US and Polish credit unions to provide a pathway to safety for victims of the war. At the end of 2022, the WOCCU Board of Directors decided to create a special committee – Refugees, Relief & Rebuilding (3R), entrusting me with the position of Chair in it. We collected examples of how CUs in different parts of the world help refugees. We have prepared a report from this study available on the WOCCU website. One of these examples is our joint activity within the Via Stella Foundation – American & Polish CUs. It turned out to be so important and effective that I received an invitation – as a representative of WOCCU – to New York to present the effects of our efforts. I have been asked to present our work at a side event during the UN General Assembly in New York on September 26. I will do so, knowing that our work and the opportunity to tell our story is possible because you made it possible.

We are grateful for the support which you have contributed. As you close 2024 and budget for 2025 please continue your attention and contributions for the work that Via Stella does to assist victims of the war. You can find us at https://www.viastella.pl/

National Association of Credit and Savings Unions (NACSCU)