March 22, 2009

Congratulations to Cleveland Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas on scoring his 10,000th point yesterday during the Cavs-Hawks game at the Q. Z joins Lebron James, Brad Daugherty, and Austin Carr in the Cavs 10,000 point club. He is also 3 blocked shots away from passing John Hot Rod Williams for the team record of 1,200 blocks. Full story on cleveland.com

Congratulations to Cleveland artist and printmaker Nijole Palubinskas, who has been invited to exhibit her work in Lithuania this coming September. The exhibit will take place in the Antanas Moncys museum in Palanga. Palubinskiene is a 1955 graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art.

Today, the 2nd collection at OLPH will be for the benefit of Religious Aid to Lithuania.

Cayuga, featuring Saulius Butkus will play in the Lithuanian club lounge on Friday, March 27th from 9:30 pm to 11:30 pm. Check out Cayuga's MySpace page for info and music samples.

Check out March Badness Rollerderby featuring the champs of the Burning River Rollergirls: The Hellbombers with Daina Butkus in action. The date is Saturday, March 28th, and the place is the Euclid Sports Plant, 20001 Euclid Avenue. Doors open at 5:00 pm and bouts begin at 6:00 pm. Tickets are available online at brownpapertickets.com or at The Thermadore.

The Lithuanian Scouts will present their annual bazaar, know as Kazuiko Muge next Sunday, March 29th, beginning at 11:30 in the upper and lower halls at OLPH.

The Cleveland International Film Festival will feature Loss directed by Maris Martinsons, who was inspired by Six Degrees of Separation. Loss is described as a moody tale that weaves together the stories of six seemingly unrelated people’s interconnected lives.

The film stars Valda Bickute, Kostas Smoriginas, Andrius Mamontovas, Dalia Micheleviciute and Daiva Tamosiunaite. Loss screens on Tuesday, March 24 at 9:30 pm and on Saturday, March 28 at 2:30 pm.

Visit clevelandfilm.org for more details and tickets. Looks like the Saturday afternoon screening is already sold out.

Vaiko Vartai i Moksla (Child's Gate to Learning) will present a fundraising dinner on Palm Sunday, April 5th in the lower hall at OLPH. All proceeds go to fund programs supporting disadvantaged and orphaned children in Lithuania.

On Good Friday, April 10th, Lithuanian Village will offer a Lenten Buffet from 5:00 – 8:00 pm, along with a book signing by Dorothy Chapon Kazel, sister-in-law of missionary nun Dorothy Kazel who was killed in El Salvador in 1980. Chapon-Kazel’s new book The Voice: A Missionary's Call to Give her Life will be on sale.

The Lithuanian Club & Village will be closed Easter Sunday, April 12th.

If you missed the glass jewelry making class at Lithuanian Village back in February, you have another chance coming up on Saturday, April 25th. Contact John Yagoda at 440-309-0488 for more information and reservations.

The Knights of Lithuania, Council 25 of Cleveland invites you to become a member of the Vyciai. The next council meeting is Friday April, 3rd at 1:00 pm in the lower hall at OLPH. Meetings are conducted in an English-friendly format so non-Lithuanian speakers can participate as well.

If you or a member of your family will be a graduate this spring, mark your calendar now for a special event coming up on Saturday, June 6th at Lithuanian Village. Abiturientu Balius, or Graduates Spring Fling will give the community a chance to celebrate the Lithuanian heritage of a very large group of graduates in 2009. There will be snacks, deserts, dancing and socializing.

Please contact Vilija Klimas at vilija@nasvytis.com or Shirley Kizys at 216-554-9729 for more information, and especially if you have a graduate in your family this spring.