News

Trade School "Sodziaus meistrai" in Trakai, supported by KFF, provides youth with an alternative to your traditional, academic education by teaching crafts and trades to around 70 learners, including, for example, carpentry, cooking, and landscaping. Peter and Annalinai Kazickas had an opportunity to visit it during their visit to Lithuania.

KFF through its Alexandra Kazickas Grant Program supports Lithuanian Heritage Schools in the US. Lithuanian School in Washington DC sends their gratitude for the support:

We are proud of the Basketball Power coach of Marijampole Andrius Levanas and share his achievements with you. While working as a police sports instructor, he noticed that his police department had to deal with teens of an adjacent school more than regularly. He found Basketball Power program on Facebook, wrote to the program's manager and asked if he could join the program with the teens from the school. And the rest is history. Thank you, Andrius!

Article in "15min.lt" about "Basketball Power" student Edvardas.

by Inga Saukiene

Eighteen year old Edvardas knows it really well what it means to be rejected. Young man, who grew up in the Foster home, doesn’t even try to hide that just few years ago he was searching for affection at the street fights.

In preparation for the Lithuanian Language Proficiency Test for the YOUTH (born in 2003 and older) of the Lithuanian Diaspora on March 25-26, 2017, KFF held meetings in the Ministry of Education and Science on February 10, and in the Department of the Lithuanian Studies in Vilnius University on February 14

On February 13th, Neila Baumiliene, Director of Kazickas Family Foundation New York office, and Arminas Vareika, Director of "Basketball Power" program, met with Police Commissioner General of Lithuania Linas Pernavas.

During his visit to Lithuania, Peter Kazickas joined Basketball Power program's coach Arminas Vareika in his Monday night practice at XXX. This is one of the first programs in the country where children with special needs can come together and play sport.

Neila Baumilienė, Director of the Kazickas Family Foundation (New York) organized a meeting on combatting Trafficking in Human Beings (THB) at the Kazickas Family Residence in Vilnius Friday afternoon.

Peter and Annalina Kazickas' final meeting of the trip to Lithuania was with the Academy of Robotics in Vilnius to learn about their initiative and discuss future partnerships with Basketball Power as it seeks to expand into the coding and programing area. That led to Academy of Robotics inviting KFF grantee Ariogala Day Center "Ariogalos tėkmė" representatives, a team of five students to be guests at the Vilnius Regional FLL competition in OZAS, X-Planet.

During the visit to Lithuania, Kazickas Family Foundation's New York office Director Neila Baumiliene met with the Minister of Social Security and Labour of Lithuania Linas Kukuraitis and Daina Urbonaitiene, Family and Community Department Director.