fcsla.orgFirst Catholic Slovak Ladies Association

Membership Form for Merger Members 2020 Photo Contest  -- President's Welcome Board of Directors Branch/Producer Locator Privacy History 125th Anniversary FAQs Financial Highlights Here's What's New Life Insurance Fraternal Benefits Life Cost Quote Annuities Glossary of Terms Forms Tools Fraternal Department Calendar of Events Community Fraternally Yours Magazine Scholarship Opportunites Youth Trip to Poland -- Slovak/American Cookbook Embroidered Easter Basket Covers for Sale -- Slovak Language School Slovak History & Culture Site Map Leadership Responds to Coronavirus Read Messages to Members, Agents and Recommenders The President's Message: As we enter the next phase of the coronavirus (COVID-19) national emergency, we at are following the guidelines of our state officials and participating in the Restart Ohio program. The health and safety of our members, employees, producers, all officers, and everyone in our community continue to be our primary concern. Our home office in Beachwood, Ohio is now open as of May 4, 2020, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. Most of our dedicated employees will gradually return to our office and the rest of the employees will continue to work remotely, so if a member, agent, recommender or visitor needs service please contact us by telephone so we can assist you. We appreciate your patience during these times, and are proud of keeping business as usual, as much as possible. We recommend that branches, districts, and members follow local, state, federal, and diocesan guidelines and restrictions regarding Covid-19. We encourage you support virtual or other remote means for FCSLA events and activities until we return to a more "normal" state of affairs in this great country of ours, the United States of America. Our Task Force made up of Karen Jakubowski (or designee), Head of Human Resources, Chair and the other key members of our management team are working with me on Restart Ohio as this emergency evolves. FCSLA has a Business Continuity Plan and a Disaster Recovery Plan that would be triggered in case of a natural disaster or a specific instance affecting our ability to conduct our operations out of the home office. These plans have been used in conjunction with our Task Force recommendations so we can continue to service the needs of our members and our producers. My heartfelt thanks go out to all who have dedicated much time and effort to develop our phased in plans and for our conscientious efforts in their implementation so far. I am proud of all these efforts, especially of all those essential workers who have come into the home office for essential duties. I invite you to read the other messages from my colleagues on the website as well. We are grateful for your trust, confidence, and loyalty as we navigate through this current crisis. We have weathered many storms and challenges in our 128-year history, including the 1918 Flu Epidemic, the Great Depression and World War II, we will weather this challenge with grit and courage too! We have been fortunate to have many great leaders and we are strong both financially and fraternally. With a membership base of 109,000 members, FCSLA's assets exceed $1 Billion and our surplus is over $107 Million. May you and yours be safe and keep healthy in these challenging times. You can count on FCSLA to be here for you! Fraternally Yours, Cynthia M. Maleski National President (CEO) From the Desk of Our National President: Cynthia M. Maleski Welcome to 2021! We are all hopeful about the development and distribution of FDA approved vaccines to combat Covid-19. While this is on the horizon, we must still take all precautions so that we get to the finish line safe and healthy. We encourage our branch officers, district leaders, and members to support virtual or other remote means for events and activities over the winter months. There are plenty of ways we can connect with each other, as well as those who need our help right now. We can write letters and cards, we can share virtually, we can pray for others, and we can make donations to those community organizations that need our help right now. This is the spirit of fraternalism; we do what we can and serve as beacons of hope and light for those around us! Let us all find ways to protect life by taking part in virtual prayer services and give to pro-life causes in our communities as well! Take care, keep up the spirit, and be positive and hopeful in 2021! The American Fraternal Alliance (AFA) announced a new Chair of the Board at its recent virtual ENCORE leadership and education event on December 15-16, 2020. Cynthia M. Maleski, President and CEO of of the U.S.A. (FCSLA) proudly accepted the virtual gavel from AFA outgoing Chair, Timothy Kuzma. Below is a copy of Cynthia's acceptance address which began with a word of gratitude to FCSLA for support of its service to AFA, and by commencement had clearly outlined her vision to lead the effort to achieve common goals for the benefit of all. 2020 Leads to Redefining Our Outlook in 2021 and Beyond Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is Cynthia Maleski, incoming Chair of the Board of the American Fraternal Alliance and President/CEO of of the U.S.A. Thank you to my society for its support of our service to AFA. Fraternal benefit societies have an overarching purpose of affirming and uplifting the dignity of every person, in our country and in our world. In 2020, our leaders have responded courageously and with determination to confront even greater challenges with the pandemic, social unrest and the disruption of our political landscape. Yesterday, fellow AFA board member Nicole Gourley talked about how we arrived at our inspiring new Vision & Mission Statements that will help guide us into the future. We thank her for taking on this leadership role to recreate these messages at this important time in our journey together. Mission: We unite members through advocacy, education and networking to advance the fraternal benefit society movement. Vision: We strive to be "A world where we live fraternally – United to improve the lives of others and to be financially secure." Our strategic plan for 2021 is closely aligned with these inspiring Mission and Vision statements. Working Towards Common Purpose/Common Good Fraternal benefit societies are uniquely positioned to work in concert and partnership for the common good that ultimately benefits all. We can engage every one of our members to protect life, to preserve the framework of good government in a democratic society and ultimately to promote peace. In uniting and connecting, we can better the communities around us to recognize, affirm and uplift the dignity of every individual person. Through our lodges and chapters, we provide much needed aid and assistance to thousands in hundreds of communities across our nation and beyond by reaching out to those at crossroads in life, to those in need of food and clothing and to those needing a kind word or prayer during crisis in their lives. We provide access to needed financial products to many who normally would not have such access, to fortify their financial well-being and independence. Each one of our societies is founded on a different cultural and historic basis; however, we are bound together in these unified common goals for the greater good of our communities in general. In the past, the AFA, has achieved many goals: Defeating threats to our federal tax exemption; Unbundling or eliminating unfair regulation that does not take into account our unique nature; Funding significant consumer research so that we may better communicate our value proposition; Through our branch system, serving as beacons of hope and light in thousands of communities in our country, as well as Canada. In 2019 alone, over 7.5 million members, donated over 66 million of volunteer service ours and gave more than $631 million to community organizations. Moving Forward: Building on Connections for the Common Good In...