Regina Narušis

The LAC Moves Forward

Regina Narušis is the President of the National Executive Committee of the Lithuanian American Community, Inc.

The third annual session of the 15^th Board of Directors of the Lithuanian American Community, Inc. (LAC) was held to set policies for the Community through the National Executive Board on October 8^th through the 10^th of 1999 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

At this annual meeting, as is the custom and tradition, the National Executive Board presented in writing and verbally an accounting of its past year's activities and proposed programs for the coming year. The Board broke into eight group sessions (commissions) to consider and recommend future policies in the following areas: Cultural Affairs, Educational Affairs, Public Affairs, Religious Affairs, Human Services, Economic Affairs, Youth Matters, and Finance. Each commission discussed the pertinent problems and proposed resolutions to be submitted to the full Board of Directors for its approval.

The full Board approved the Executive Board's financial accounting and adopted the budget for the year 2000.

The Board approved the following (condensed) resolutions of the Cultural Affairs Commission:

Urges all Lithuanian-Americans to support and attend the Folk Dance Festival to be held in Canada in July 2000, including the dance groups;

Urges LAC chapters and areas to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the Lithuanian Charter, our accomplishments, the founding of LAC, and to document our history;

Urges the LAC Cultural Council to prepare and disseminate a list of Lithuanian cultural video tapes;

Urges the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuanian and LAC's Joint Commission to call attention to the critical condition of Kaunas's Čiurlionis Museum and the preservation of its art;

Congratulates the Cultural Council on the re-establishment of the Cultural Awards Day and urges it to continue that tradition;

Requests the LAC chapters to inform the Cultural Council of the musicians, artists, actors, dance groups, and choruses in their chapters and areas;

The Human Services' resolutions (condensed) approved by the Board of Directors included the following:

Suggests that the Human Services Council form a committee to address adoption concerns of Lithuanian children;

Urges the Human Services Council to continue to assist, within legal bounds, the new arrivals from Lithuania;

Thanking the Council and Korolius Milkovaitis for his 16 years as editor of Pensininkas (Pensioner) magazine;

The following abbreviated resolutions concerning Sports Affairs were adopted by the Council;

Thanking sports activists, urges sports activities for the young, and the participation and support of the chapters of such sports events;

Thanking the Lithuanian Foundation for its financial support to the Sports Association;

Much of the meeting was consumed by organizational matters. The by-laws were amended and the rules were adopted for the election of a new Board of Directors in May of 2000. We urge all to vote through local chapters. As amended at this meeting, the Lithuanian American Community, Inc. consists of those persons of Lithuanian descent living in the United States and their spouses, and those not of Lithuanian descent at the request of the applicant and those who have earned membership due to their acknowledged contribution to the LAC or the Republic of Lithuania.

The Public Affairs Commission considered the adoption of many resolutions. Due to lack of time, not all resolutions submitted were accepted by the Commission nor adopted at the meeting by the full Board of Directors. Among those adopted at the full Board meeting were the following condensed resolutions:

The Board supports the necessity of the Genocide of Lithuania Research Committee to verify and prepare accurate data concerning the harm inflicted upon Lithuania and its citizens by the Soviet and Nazi occupations between 1940 and 1990; where necessary to correct inaccurate, defamatory, or slanderous statements; and authorizes the LAC Executive Board to raise revenues to finance the work of this Committee;

Urges the Public Affairs Council to designate a person in each area to act as a liaison with that area's Congressperson to effectuate our undertakings;

In order to attract the participation of our younger members, instructs the LAC National Executive Board to:

Poll our Community to determine what is being done to maintain continuity and educate our young to take over the work and leadership.

Urge our chapters and areas to encourage our younger generation to run for the National Board of Directors.

Develop a program to assist our youth to visit Lithuania to learn of its history, genocide, and archeology.

Urges the Parliament of Lithuania and its government to support the defense strategy law adopted in Jan. of 1999 and continue to finance the defense budget at 1.5% of its GDP now and increase to 2% by year 2001.

Congratulates the Lithuanian Armed Forces for its great achievements in preparing for its defense and sends our best wishes to LAC's former members, the Commander of the Armed Forces Brigadier General John Kronkaitis, Vice-minister of Defense Colonel R. Kilikauskas, and Inspector General of the Armed Forces Colonel A.V. Garsys.

Requests that the Public Affairs Council seek the academia to prepare and publish an evaluation of the Soviet 1940-1941 occupation and the Nazi occupation of 1941-1944.

Supports the Tiurnberg II International Congress in Lithuania, which would condemn communist ideology and its consequences;

The joint Parliament and LAC Commission is asked to request the preservation of Lithuanian citizenship for all those who have taken on U.S. citizenship – allowing dual citizenship as permitted by U.S. laws;

Proclaims the year 2000 as the "Year of Christ's Birth" with special attention to our youth.

Due to the shortness of time, the Education Commission's proposed resolutions were presented but were not then adopted. The proposed resolutions included in part the following:

Requests the Education Council of LAC to prepare a computer program for teaching the Lithuanian language;

Requests the Council with the Republic of Lithuania's Education Ministry to plan excursions to Lithuania for older students to learn of their homeland firsthand;

Urges the preparation of a plan for our students to make use of e-mail to communicate with each other here and in Lithuania;

Urges the preparation of a public and Community service manual for our schools;

Urges the LAC to declare a "Lithuanian School Teachers' Day", and urges our chapters to honor their teachers;

Urges to continue the regional and week-long teachers' conferences for our Lithuanian school teachers to afford them a continuing education in new technology and methodology;

Urges our LAC Education Council to include religious training, encourage attending our parish churches, and make use of the LAC's Religious Council material prepared for that purpose;

As clearly evident, the resolutions are many. They are only excerpts and are not translations in full, nor do they include all the resolutions. To effectuate all or the majority of these resolutions, the LAC will require manpower and finances. Without both, the programs suggested will remain only a wish list. We encourage you to volunteer your services in an area you are interested and vote in the spring to elect a new National Board of Directors. If you don't belong to a chapter, find one nearest you and participate in meetings and events, especially the "Independence Day" celebrations, commemorations, and fund-raising.

The National Executive Board has worked hard to make the programs that were presented to you meaningful and fruitful. We look forward to seeing you and hearing from you. There are about a million of us in the United States. Let's make an effort to allow those million voices to be heard and those million minds to produce a strong Lithuanian-American Community for the 21^st century.

Our national office is located in Reston, Virginia at 11259 Roger Bacon Dr., Suite 17C. Our director is Audronė Pakštys. The telephone number is 703-397-0950, fax is 703-397-0951, e-mail is lacin@erols.com, and our web-site is www.javlb.org or www.lithuanian-american.org. Let us show our solidarity!