News

Last week, November 20 - 21, 2019 Yale MacMillan Center hosted Baltic Studies Fellows reunion conference. This event brought to the Yale campus past scholars from Lithuania – those who received the Joseph P. Kazickas Fellowship – and from Latvia and Estonia – those who received the Juris Padegs Fellowship. At the conference, they discussed their scholarly work after their time spent at Yale.

"Bring Together Lithuania" 2020 summer internship program, initiated and sponsored by the Kazickas Family Foundation, invites students and recent graduates (ages 18-25) of Lithuanian descent to gain professional experience and rediscover modern Lithuania. 

Last Saturday, November 16th, a special guest, KFF Vilnius office director Agne Vertelkaite, stopped by at the Alexandra Kazickas Lithuanian School. It was one of many special places visited during her three week trip to the USA.

On the 30th of October, 260 “Youth Can” students, 20 coaches, 15 bus drivers, and 4 volunteers came to Kaunas with a goal to share the experiences, develop life skills during interesting activities, gain more valuable knowledge and have lots of fun together.

During their visit to Chicago, KFF representatives, Vilnius office director Agne Vertelkaite, New York office director Neila Baumiliene and AKGP manager Gintaute Genender, met with Consul General of Lithuania in Chicago Mantvydas Bekesius and advisor for cultural affairs and public diplomacy Ieva Dilyte.

Board members of the Lithuanian Foundation, donors, members of the diplomatic community, participants of the North American Lithuanian Youth Summit, prior and current LF scholarship recipients and many other guests gathered at the annual Lithuanian Foundation Gala on November 2. The Kazickas Family Foundation was represented by KFF Vilnius office director and LF Board member Agne Vertelkaite, KFF New York office director Neila Baumiliene and KFF AKGP manager Ginte Genender.

Thank You, members of the Rotary Club of Chicagoland Lithuanians, for a warm welcome and a productive discussion at the World Lithuanian Center in Chicago on November 3.

After visiting 9 towns in Lithuania, two very special exhibits made their way across the ocean and will settle in New York during the month of November. On November 1st the Kazickas family in partnership with the Lithuanian Alliance of America invited guests to remember dr. Joseph Kazickas (1918-2014) and his dear wife Alexandra Kazickas (1920-2011) and to learn more about their lives during the dr. Joseph P. Kazickas' 100th jubilee exhibition and "Together for Life" exhibit opening.

Continuing dr. Joseph and Alexandra Kazickas‘ philanthropy, their 11 grandchildren choose the causes they are passionate about and organizations that they can relate to. One of their grandchildren, Jack Kazickas, always deeply cared about children and teen well-being and chose to support Lentvaris and Raguvele Day Centers in Lithuania this year.

The exhibit Odyssey of Hope: the Journey Never Ends celebrating the life of Joseph Peter Kazickas (1918-2014) will be open in New York November 1-30, 2019. Jurate Kazickas and the Kazickas family are inviting all to learn more about Joseph P. Kazickas' life, to share the memories of him and to hear the stories of other Lithuanian immigrants during the exhibit opening: