WSA Fraternal Life, Inc, known until 1989 as the Western Slavonic Association (WSA), or Zapadna Slovanska Zveza, is an ethnic fraternal benefit and social organization for Slovene [ citation needed ] immigrants and their descendants in the United States. Its activities have included visiting the sick and bereaved, offering college scholarship, promoting Slavic culture and organizing trips to Yugoslavia (before the violent break up of that country). [1] WSA publishes a newspaper, The Fraternal Voice.
The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians, are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Slovenia, and also to Italy, Austria and Hungary in addition to having a diaspora throughout the world. Slovenes share a common ancestry, culture, history and speak Slovene as their native language.
The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country comprising 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
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In June 1995, the group merged with the Sociedad Protección Mutua de Trabajodores Unidos (Mutual Society for United Workers). The merger was completed in January 1996. The SPMTU continues to operate its own lodges and fraternal activities, while WSA administrates their insurance certificates. [2]
Membership was opened to people of all nationalities and ancestries in 1958. [3] There were 13,000 members in 1965, 10,000 in 1978 (in 41 lodges in five states) [4] and 9,500 in 1995. [5] In The headquarters of the WSA is located in Westminster, Colorado.
Westminster is a Home Rule Municipality in Adams and Jefferson counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. Westminster is a northwest suburb of Denver. The Westminster Municipal Center is located 9 miles (14 km) north-northwest of the Colorado State Capitol. As of the 2010 census the population of Westminster was 106,114, and as of 2016 the estimated population was 113,875. Westminster is the seventh most populous city in Colorado and the 237th most populous city in the United States. Westminster is a part of the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical Area. In July 2006, it was ranked as the 24th best place to live in the USA by Money magazine.
Colorado is a state of the Western United States encompassing most of the southern Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. It is the 8th most extensive and 21st most populous U.S. state. The estimated population of Colorado was 5,695,564 on July 1, 2018, an increase of 13.25% since the 2010 United States Census.
In the mid 1990s it was licensed to sell insurance in Colorado, Utah, Minnesota and Pennsylvania and had a permanent staff of four. [6] As of 2013, it also has a license in Illinois, New Mexico, Ohio and South Dakota.
Utah is a state in the western United States. It became the 45th state admitted to the U.S. on January 4, 1896. Utah is the 13th-largest by area, 31st-most-populous, and 10th-least-densely populated of the 50 United States. Utah has a population of more than 3 million according to the Census estimate for July 1, 2016. Urban development is mostly concentrated in two areas: the Wasatch Front in the north-central part of the state, which contains approximately 2.5 million people; and Washington County in Southern Utah, with over 160,000 residents. Utah is bordered by Colorado to the east, Wyoming to the northeast, Idaho to the north, Arizona to the south, and Nevada to the west. It also touches a corner of New Mexico in the southeast.
Minnesota is a state in the Upper Midwest, Great Lakes, and northern regions of the United States. Minnesota was admitted as the 32nd U.S. state on May 11, 1858, created from the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory. The state has a large number of lakes, and is known by the slogan the "Land of 10,000 Lakes". Its official motto is L'Étoile du Nord.
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state located in the northeastern, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The Appalachian Mountains run through its middle. The Commonwealth is bordered by Delaware to the southeast, Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, Lake Erie and the Canadian province of Ontario to the northwest, New York to the north, and New Jersey to the east.
