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Video courtesy
Martynas Jancius: www.martynasjancius.com
TV3.lt: www.tv3.lt
Video by Martynas Jancius: www.martynasjancius.com
A Thank You letter and photos from Virginija Kneciuniene who is a teacher at the Raseiniai School for Special Needs Children. We sponsored an excursion for 13 of the students to visit some historic sites and parks in Lithuania. The children had a fantastic time, learned a lot and are very grateful …
Mielos Vilija, Darija ir visos Lietuvos Dukterys,
pagaliau atėjo tas laikas, kada galiu parašyti laiškelį pilną įspūdžių iš pirmosios mūsų ekskursijos. Ji įvyko gegužės 26 dieną. Važiavo 13 vaikų, nes tiek vietų buvo autobusiuke. Pirmiausia tai buvo mano vadovaujamo etnokultūrinio būrelio “Paparčio žiedas” nariai, na ir keletas kitų mokinukų. Faktiškai iš kiekvienos klasės, skaičiuojant nuo penktos klasės, buvo bent po vieną atstovą. Tai, galima sakyti, kad važiavo visa mokykla. Aplankėme Veliuonos piliakalnius, Raudonės ir Panemunės pilis. Įspūdžių vaikams begalė. Įdedu keletą nuotraukėlių ir trumputę filmuotą atkarpėlę iš pasivaikščiojimo po Panemunės pilies parką. Ir dar prie to paties įdedu nuotraukų koliažą,kurį sudaro nuotraukėlės, kur užfiksuoti vaikai su priemonėmis, kurias nusipirkome iš ankstesnių Jūsų dovanotų pinigėlių, tai čia jau tik mano klasės vaikai. Kiekvienas mano klasės vaikų gimtadienis taip pat neapsieina be Jūsų… Jiems yra nuperkamas gimtadienio tortas,ir jie tai žino, kad Lietuvos dukterys juos pasveikina ir su gimtadieniu…
Tiesa, filmavimo kamera, su kuria buvome ir ekskursijoje taip pat Jūsų dovana. Vaikai žino, kad ekskursija yra Jūsų dovana, todėl perduodu visoms Lietuvos Dukterims didelį ačiū nuo jų.
AČIŪ UŽ JŪSŲ GERUMĄ!
Pagarbiai
Virginija K.
This is an email we received from Arturas Matukaitis, the Director of the School in Smalininkai. The Daughters of Lithuania LA help support the children at this school as well as many of the families in need in this small rural town. Earlier this year we provided them with funds for an excursion to the Baltic Sea and a nearby Dolphinarium. We also gifted the school with five (5) Samsung Galaxy Tablets.
Arturas and all the families and kids are so very grateful for this experience (out of the 44 people that went on this excursion, 30 of them had never seen the sea … and they are all still talking about it!) as well as for the Tablets. He writes in detail about the joy they had and the memories that were made.
Ekskursija jau įvyko. Mielos Lietuvos Dukterys, iki graudulio esame Jums dėkingi už mūsų vaikams padovanotą laimės dieną. Jau nuo pat ryto keliauninkus lydėjo geras oras ir džiugi laukimo nuotaika. Jeigu Jūs būtumėte mačiusios, kokie pasipuošę visi buvo, o daugelis vaikų vežėsi ir maudymuisi skirtus reikmenis, nes iš 44, net 30 žmonių prie jūros važiavo pirmą kartą. Pirmą kartą jūrą pamatė ketvirtokas Gantas, jo brolis Svajūnas, broliai penktokai Paulius ir Gvidas Ceinoriai ir jų trejų metukų sesė Lėja bei mama Kristina, Gabija, Paulius, Alanas Margeliai ir jų tėtis ir dar daugelis daugelis kitų vaikų ir jų tėvelių. O pirmokas Mantas taip susižavėjo jūra, kad net nepastebėjo, jog maudosi su rūbeliais ir basutėmis, gerai, kad kitos mamos buvo įsidėjusios visko daugiau negu reikia…
O paskui visų laukė delfinų pasirodymas Klaipėdos delfinariume. Kitą dieną visi vaikai nenutildami pasakojo apie tai, ką matė, kokie dideli ir gražūs buvo delfinai, kaip šokinėjo ir kai kuriuos net aptaškė… O šalia dar buvo mama arba tėtis ir juos irgi delfinai aptaškė… Žodžiu, įspūdžių tiek, kad po ekskursijos praėjus jau savaitei, viskas vaikų galvelėse dar labai gyva ir nepasimiršta…
Ačiū Jums už mūsų vaikų šypsenas, juoką ir laimę, kurią padovanojote ne tik mūsų vaikams, bet ir jų šeimoms. Nuotraukas pridedame. Dėkojame už Vilijos mums perduotas dovanas, kurios mums labai padės kasdieniniame darbe. O dabar labai rimtai ir atsakingai ruošiamės stovyklai „Sakale, lėk 5“. Tai bus galutinis mūsų mokslo metų baigimo akcentas ir mokiniai išeis atostogauti.
Pagarbiai,
Artūras Matukaitis
This spring, the Daughters of Lithuania LA took on a project to remodel the one bathroom that all the kids share, which was in desperate need of repair. We hired a contractor who gutted the space, replaced all the plumbing, electrical, heating, fixtures, tile, cabinets and even installed radiant floor heating! He also replaced a cabinet and countertop that was falling apart in their kitchen. Dalia and Vladas Gumuliauskai and all the kids are thrilled with the results and extremely grateful.
The annual Daughters of Lithuania Christmas event was very successful.
The hall was packed with over 210 people.
Volunteers spent weeks organizing and decorating to make this a special event.
Under the direction of Viktoras Ralys, the choir sang traditional Christmas carols and Lithuanian standards.
This annual tradition holds a special place in the heart of the Los Angeles Lithuanian Community – as we can all come together and celebrate the joy of Christmas and another year of making a difference in the lives of many children and families in Lithuania.
In August, Darija, Vilija and I set off on a road trip to visit the different orphanages, schools, families and groups that the Daughters of Lithuania support.
The first step was to rent a car that would hold all of the suitcases filled with school supplies, backpacks, winter parkas, vitamins, candies, etc that we brought to distribute. It wasn’t easy to stuff everything in, but we did it. We even managed to carve out a small spot for Vilija in the back seat.
That job took most of the morning and finally we set off on our road trip to Paparciai, Kaunas, Siauliai, Smalininkai, and finally Rumbonys.
That first day we got our first glimpse of the amazing cloud filled skies of Lithuania. Each day was more beautiful than the last, and of course I took hundreds of pictures of just clouds.
I will post a few of those photos later.
Last week a group from Paparciai went to Birstonas.
They walked through the woods and enjoyed the fall colors, then visited the “Kings Residence” where they learned to bake very special treats. At the end of the day they were even able to take a dip in the pool!
This very special outing was possible thanks to the generosity of the Daughters of Lithuania, Los Angeles.
Birštonas
Šiandien buvome Birštone, pasivaikščiojome po rudenišką miestą, apsilankėme Karališkoje rezidencijoje, kur gaminome keksiuką dryžių ir gavome jaunesniojo karališkojo konditerio kvalifikaciją.O po sunkaus darbo mūsų laukė atokvėpis -vandens pramogos.Ačiū Lietuvos dukterims iš Los Angelo, kurių dėka mes galėjome taip papromogauti:)
What an honor!
The Daughters of Lithuania were chosen to be Grand Marshal of this years’ 27th Annual Lithuanian Days Fair.
We are profoundly grateful to be recognized for the work the organization does and it was wildly fun to be celebrities for a day. We had 2 booths at the fair … the “Bake a Difference” booth where we sold homemade baked goods and also sold a wide variety of handmade Lithuanian crafts at a second booth. It was a very successful event and we raised lots money for those in need in Lithuania.
This is Stasiukas.
He is 3 and this was his first trip to a zoo.
Ever.
In fact the director said that most of these kids had never even set foot into a restaurant, so the outing to the zoo in Kaunas filled these kids with amazement. To us, this was a fun outing with the little ones, but to them, this day will be something they will probably remember the rest of their lives.
Actually, this trip to the zoo is something that I will remember the rest of my life.
One of the most incredible places on Earth!
I have wanted to visit Kryziu Kalnas for years. No matter how many photos I have seen, I was not prepared for what it is actually like to visit. I have never seen anything like this in my life. Amazing!
Some of the posted information said that there were over 100,000 crosses on the hill, but I’m sure that information was many years old. There had to be Millions of Crosses. MILLIONS!
My first visit was about 2 hours in the morning, but that was not enough time, so I returned in the late afternoon by myself. This time I spent almost 4 hours. As it got later, I was the only person out there which is something I will never forget.
I took almost 1,000 photos and could have kept going, but it got dark!
Here are just a few of them. I will post some more later on.
No one seemed to know exactly what kind of animal this was.
To the kids, it was a Dramblys.
And that was all that mattered!
Last month we took the 7 youngest kids to the zoo in Kaunas.
What a Day!
After taking 19 of the older kids for a day of bowling, games, and pizza the day before, we thought that 7 toddlers at the zoo was going to be easy.
We were wrong! As soon as we were in the gates, they were running everywhere. It was like herding cats, but so much fun.
Our visit to Raseiniai, Lithuania in June 2011 was featured in the local newspaper, “Alio Raseiniai“.