Each year we celebrate the culture & especially food of Lithuania!
Our Lithuanian specials have received an outstanding response & we look forward to continuing the tradition again this year. Join us the evening of March 11th to try the amazing three course meal Chef Dan & his team have prepared for you. The meal includes our chilled beet soup, your choice of two entrees & cottage cheese dough-nuts for dessert.
EVENING PROGRAM:
5:30pm - 6:30pm Cash Bar
6:30pm - 7:15pm Dinner
7:15pm Speaker
(Times may vary)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Daiva Venckus
“A One-Way Ticket to the Revolution”
Daiva Venckus was born in California but her family stories about escaping Soviet-occupied
Lithuania during World War II inspired her to seek a better understanding of her heritage. Her
first visit to Lithuania was in the summer of 1989, when she assisted with an archeological dig
at the historic area of Kernavė. It was during this time that Daiva witnessed the first seeds of the
revolution. She visited Sajūdis (the “Reform Movement of Lithuania”), protests and attended
the Roko Maršas (Rock March) festival where young and old sang about freedom.
Daiva returned to Los Angeles with a fire burning within to help Lithuania. She became the
President of the Lithuanian Youth Association (LA Chapter) and a member of the Baltic
American Freedom League. She helped organize demonstrations in support of Lithuanian
independence in California during 1989-1990. She also worked as the Associate Director of the
Lithuanian Action Center in LA, which served as political lhub for the Western U.S. States
which lobbied legislators to recognize Lithuanian Independence.
But even this was not enough for her, and she decided to live in Lithuania for two years. At the
age of 24, there wasn’t a solid plan of what to do once she arrived in the country, but because
Daiva happened to be there in the middle of a revolution, a path unfolded which she could never
have imagined.
She arrived in Lithuania on January 15, 1991, two days after the tragic events in Vilnius, when
Soviet tanks stormed the capital city and 13 peaceful protestors were killed. She first worked for
the underground television and radio stations in Kaunas helping to translate news for Western
broadcast to counter Soviet propaganda. Soon after, she moved to Vilnius and worked for
Sajūdis, translating documents showing Soviet human rights abuses in Lithuania to be used in
the Geneva Convention.
Daiva moved on to work behind the barricades of the Lithuanian Parliament as a press
spokesperson (1991-1992). She edited and translated for the government as it struggled to
break away from the Soviet Union. She managed daily press briefings and wrote official
government press releases and served as a contact for the foreign press, providing information
and giving numerous interviews on the air. She also served as a foreign press wrangler during
official delegation visits and other government events.
During this time Daiva lived in a world where she was a government insider as well as an
average person on the streets overcoming the challenges of food shortages, the Moscow-
imposed economic blockade, Martial Law and increasing Soviet military threats.
Ultimately, Daiva experienced first-hand what all Lithuanians dreamed about for decades:
Freedom. She has written a memoir about her experiences in revolutionary Lithuania which she
is working on getting published in 2021.
Daiva was awarded the Lithuanian State Medal of January 13 by the Lithuanian President
for defending the freedom and independence of Lithuania in 1991.
For questions please call 608.262.5023 or email [email protected]
