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Jurate Kazickas together with her brothers John, Joseph and his wife Lucy spent a week in Lithuania where among few events to commemorate the 100th jubilee of their beloved father Joseph Peter Kazickas, they also visited foundations grantees and opened their family residence door to show gratititude and make new connections. Here Jurate shares few highlights from her trip:
"Let me start with my personal highlight of my most recent visit to Lithuania from June 11 to June 18.
For me, it was the celebration of the Kazickas Family Foundation Girl Power RUNNING program which was launched in April with the guidance of Arminas Vareika, our Basketball Power leader and several female coaches.
More than 25 young women participated in a major 5k race in Vilnius, crossing the finish line proudly carrying the banner Powerful Together.
KFF goal is to expand the Basketball Power program to include more sport options and especially to include more girls who can enjoy the benefits of sports and exercise for mental and physical health.
But so much more happened that week with several events to commemorate the 100th jubilee of Joseph Peter Kazickas.
On Tuesday, June 12th, I arrived in Vilnius and that evening went for a screening of a documentary about Chiornaya Padina. The filmmaker, S. Berzinis, did a brilliant job of presenting the odyssey of Lithuanians to that God-forsaken “black hole” in Russia, current life in that village and J. P. Kazickas’ return in 2002 to the place of his birth in 1918.
On Wednesday, the Kasiulis Museum hosted a reception to open a new gallery to showcase the Kazickas family collection of Kasiulis paintings which were brought from the US. Joseph, Lucy and John flew in from New York for the occasion as did Vytautas Kasiulis, son of the famous Lithuanian artist and his wife, who live in Paris. I slipped away early to attend a formal dinner in the Presidential Palace for the king of the Netherlands who was in the country to dedicate a memorial in Kaunas.
Thursday, the family welcomed returning and leaving ASSIST students and their parents at the residence. This is always a warm and happy gathering. Those students who spent a year studying at private schools in the US were bubbling with excitement about their months abroad and what they saw and learned.
On Friday, I attended the opening of a conference at the National Library for “The Political Case of Freedom by the Lithuanian Diaspora” sponsored by KFF and the Damusis Center for Democracy which highlighted the lives of three patriots: Dr. K. Ambrozaitis, Dr. A. Damušis, and Dr. J. P. Kazickas, and their contributions Lithuania’s path to independence.
Three of us daughters, Ginte Damusis, now the current LT ambassador to Denmark, Ramune Ambrozaitis, an entrepreneur from California and I spoke about our memories of our fathers. The J. P. Kazickas exhibit with its 6 poster timeline and 5 vitrines of memorabilia was beautifully displayed in the library along with Damusis and Ambrozaitis photos and documents . There was also a screening of a 15 minute video about the three patriots.
Meanwhile, on that Friday, John went to Kaunas for the dedication of The Light Memorial which commemorated the life of Honorary Consul of the Netherlands Jan Zwartendijk who in the summer of 1940 saved more than 2000 Jews from Holocaust issuing them so called Life visas. KFF was a significant donor to the funding of the sculpture, a spiral of 2000 LED lights.
Earlier he met with KFF scholarship recipients at KTU.
Saturday the sun shone on our 4th annual Basketball Power event. This year it was held at Vingis park with more than 300 participants from all over Lietuva. There were basketball games (of course) relay races, jumping castles for the young kids, music, food, and awards for every child who participated. A glorious day made possible by Arminas and his crew of volunteers and all the companies who donated gifts in kind.
That evening, 20 coaches and coordinators gathered at the residence for a celebratory dinner. They have worked hard all year to care for our most vulnerable children using sports to help kids build self-confidence and self-esteem and a sense of responsibility to their communities. We thank them!
And now back to Girl Power Running. The 5k race on Saturday June 16 was organized by Vilnius Marathon and sponsored by such companies as Nike and Avon to raise awareness of breast cancer. More than 1500 women ran through the streets of Vilnius as did our young girls from several small towns of Lithuania, some of whom had never really run before. Let me say how proud I was of their efforts. They crossed the finish line all together in such a triumphant moment. Afterwards, we went to SportPoint shop to gift the girls new shoes so they can continue training and enjoying the healthful benefits of running.
The week was filled with so many joyful moments celebrating the life of our patriarch Joseph Peter Kazickas but it ended appropriately commemorating the life of our mother and grandmother, Alexandra.
Sunday at St. Casimir’s church there was a Mass in her memory along with a beautiful concert with Renata Lesieur and Professor Digrys on the organ, a Jesuit school choir, a soprano soloist and a flutist.
Joe, Lucy , John, Neila and I went to Antakalnis Cemetery to say a prayer at our parents’ memorial with endless gratitude for their bountiful lives.
And their gift to us of KFF so that we can continue their legacy of generosity and love."
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