With this information note we would like to inform about the Project activities of the GWF, its financial state and administrative news.
Since a beginning of this year, a number of priority projects with all the regional Lithuanian Jewish communities, the Vilnius Synagogue and its religious community as well as with the cultural and sports club “Fajerlech Makabi” have been initiated to be funded with the 4.5 million LTL allocated by the Board. These are enumerated below with brief descriptions:
- Development of activities and publicity of the local cultural and sports club “Fajerlech-Makabi”: a tour to Israel will be organized, stage attire will be renewed as well as general quality of performance will be increased.
- Development project of the Kaunas Jewish Community: the project will ensure a continuation of the Yiddish language club, a club for elderly as well as the children’s club “ILAN” and a club of sports and fitness. A celebration of various traditional festivals and commemorative days will be organized as well as an event to honor Righteous Gentiles.
- Development project of the Ukmergė Jewish Community: celebration of various traditional festivals and commemorative days will be organized. A new website will be created. The Community will look after local Jewish cemeteries. The project will ensure a continuation of activities of the club for elderly. It also aims at increasing the overall health and fitness level of the Community. Lastly, local historical material (recordings, photos) will be saved and archived.
- Development project of the Religious Jewish Community of Vilnius: overall, this project will ensure and help develop the necessary activities of a regular minyan.
- Ensuring the continuous functioning of the Vilnius Synagogue: the project aims at preserving a religious and cultural centre of the Religious Jewish Community of Vilnius. A proper functioning of the building will be maintained.
- Development project of the Šiauliai Jewish Community: under this project, a celebration of various traditional festivals and commemorative days will be organized with an intention to engage a wider audience too.
- Renewal of the building used by the Šiauliai Jewish Community: in accordance with the previous project, this one will help ensure an essential functioning of the building which is indispensable to maintaining activities of the Community.
- Development project of the Klaipėda Jewish Community: a celebration of various traditional festivals and commemorative days will be organized. An event “Jewish Cultural Days in Klaipėda“ will be organised. A continuation of the local Club for Elderly will be ensured. The Community will maintain the local Holocaust sites.
- Ensuring maintenance needs of the building used by the Klaipėda Jewish Community: this project will contribute to maintaining the building of the Community in a good state, since the building is a central place for all the gatherings of the Community. The building is necessary for the existence of the local Community.
- Development project of the Panevėžys Jewish Community: this project will strengthen cultural activities of the Community. Celebrations of traditional Jewish festivals and commemorative days will be organized. The main target groups of cultural and education activities will be Jewish children, youth and elderly.
Financial state:
Regarding the financial situation of the GWF, the funds are used in accordance with the last year’s decision of the Board:
- 3 mln LTL to support the persons of the Jewish nationality who resided in Lithuania during the Second World War and who suffered from the totalitarian regimes during the occupations. As of November 5, 2013, a total of 1778 claimants (including those from the Claims Conference) have applied. Currently, 1.5 mln LTL has already been paid out.
- 5.75 mln LTL in total is foreseen to fund projects which tackle the religious, cultural, health care, sports, educational and scientific goals pursued by Lithuanian Jews in Lithuania. It is expected to fund at least 70 projects by the end of the year. 1.5 mln LTL of this sum is available to support projects based on open applications.
- 6.25 mln LTL deposited into bank accounts in order to ensure the future funding for the needs of the Jewish Community of Lithuania.
- 0.5 mln LTL is set aside for administrative costs of the GWF.
Administrative news:
At the beginning of the year, the GWF was in an urgent need of qualified staff which would allow proper project-based management of funds according to the requirements of the Law on Good Will Compensation for the Property of Jewish Religious Communities of the Republic of Lithuania (adopted on June 21, 2011), and other laws of the Republic of Lithuania. In order to manage projects in an appropriate and professional manner, a very good knowledge of the Lithuanian legal system, an experience in project management and a professional accounting management was needed. Therefore, instead of hiring separate persons and trying to assemble an inexperienced team, companies which would provide necessary services were hired. All the necessary procedures of the Public Procurement Law of the Republic of Lithuania were followed. Eventually, two contracts were signed. One of them was signed with the “Kultūros paveldo akademija” (registration code: 124537967, address: Dominikonų str. 15-1, Vilnius, Lithuania) for the project management services and the other one with the “Skolų administravimo asociacija” (registration code: 302546976, address: Pelesos str. 45-32, Vilnius, Lithuania) for the accounting management services.