About Us
Our Mission
to provide help to children in Lithuania with complex medical and dental needs. Over the organization’s thirty years of activity, Lithuanian Children’s Hope has helped hundreds of children, brought many of them to the United States for specialized treatment unavailable in Lithuania and provided equipment to the pediatric units of Lithuanian hospitals. Future goals for Lithuanian Children’s Hope include working with the medical professionals of Lithuania to expand the outreach to children with autism.
Our Goal
to work with medical professionals in Lithuania to help children in Lithuania gain access to specialized medical care that is financially unavailable to them, with a particular focus on Lithuania’s smaller rural regions and children with autism.
Our Values
Compassion & Care
Equity & Access
Empowerment through education
The Lithuanian Children’s Hope team focuses on seriously ill children from Lithuania who, for financial reasons, cannot receive much-needed medical care in their home country. In order to address a sick child’s condition and to provide the best possible treatment, many children have been admitted to hospitals in the United States on the initiative of our volunteers, and their travel expenses have been paid for by the organization. While in the United States for treatment, the children and their parents or guardians are supported by members of Lithuanian Children’s Hope.
Lithuanian Children’s Hope not only cares for young patients, but also provides a wide range of support to Lithuanian children’s hospitals, such as necessary medical equipment, special devices, and medicine. The organization also finances internships for Lithuanian doctors in the US and other foreign countries, organizes visits of the US doctors to Lithuania, and invests in the repairs and renovation of children’s wards in Lithuanian hospitals.
Another important project currently underway – is a dental health program targeting children in need of orthodontic treatment with various orthodontic appliances (cap, braces, plates). The need to contribute to this mission was identified in 2020 when, with the support of Prof. Dr. Alina Pūrienė, former Director of the Žalgiris Clinic at Vilnius University Hospital, and her colleagues, a group of children in need of orthodontic treatment was assessed in two of the ten districts of Lithuania. The examination showed that out of 170 children needing treatment, only 60 children were treated with braces, plates or tooth extraction procedures. Given the findings of this survey, and the fact that the state contributes financially by covering part of the dental care but does not reimburse the costs of braces or plates, Lithuanian Children’s Hope decided to provide financial assistance for orthodontic dental care specifically to children living in orphanages, children’s homes, and community-based children’s homes. It is hoped that in the long term this support will improve the overall dental health of children in Lithuania.
The organization is constantly looking for additional ways to help children in Lithuania and seeks to establish new alliances with volunteer organizations active in Lithuania, through which it would be possible to provide a broader range of support, with a special focus on the most vulnerable groups living on the periphery of the society, i.e. children without parents or guardians.
Cooperation with Partners
The Children’s Hospital of Vilnius University Santaros Clinic, Department of Orthopaedics, Department of Oncology. This medical institution has been equipped with a neonatal unit for premature babies and an ambulance with special incubators, funded by Lithuanian Children’s Hope. The neonatal unit provides temporary accommodation for mothers and training for nurses in the proper care of premature newborns. We also plan to provide the Children’s Hospital of VUH Santaros Clinics with specialized instruments, which surgeons performing operations on children with serious intestinal problems are currently in great need of.
Prof. Rimantas Kėvalas, Head of Kaunas Clinics. Lithuanian Children’s Hope supported medical traineeships, provided bronchoscopes and endoscopes used in children’s surgery. When the COVID pandemic made it necessary to separate children infected with the COVID virus from children with other medical problems, the organization provided the clinics with a glass wall for isolation, which was installed in the emergency room.
Klaipėda Children’s Hospital. A sensory room for children with autism spectrum disorder is planned.
Lithuanian Children’s Hope is working purposefully and consistently towards closer cooperation with the NGO Volunteers for Children, which is running a new project in Lithuania called ‘No Ones Kids’. The aim of this volunteer-based initiative is to provide emotional support to sick children who have no one to visit them while they are hospitalized. No child should be alone while hospitalized. The growing popularity of the project is proof of the growing need and importance of emotional support for children.
Prof. Dr. Alina Pūriene, former Director of the Žalgiris Clinic of the VU Hospital, and Lithuanian Children’s Hope have been working together for many years. Thanks to her initiative, Lithuanian Children’s Hope is currently funding a dental project involving children selected from several smaller rural districts in Lithuania. Private dentists take the children in for treatment, and the costs are covered by Lithuanian Children’s Hope.
Our History
Lithuanian Children’s Hope is a non-profit organization founded in 1991, in Chicago. The organization was formed after the restoration of Lithuania’s independence to provide material assistance to the people of Lithuania, especially to children facing difficulties at that time. Additional chapters were established in Portland, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Saint Petersburg to mobilize support. However, these chapters were later closed.
Since 1992, the Los Angeles Chapter has been operating independently, with many meaningful activities, projects and successful donation drives. Thanks to the donations sent to Lithuania by Lithuanian Children’s Hope, a new children’s ward was built at the Santaros Clinics of the VUH; children in Lithuania with severe skin burns or other injuries were admitted to the US hospitals for specialized treatment due to the efforts of our volunteers; Lithuanian doctors were given the opportunity to do internships in universities and hospitals in the US; and medical devices, medicines, and equipment donated by hospitals in the US were transported to Lithuania.
Pumps for controlled analgesia and a patient carrier were bought for the Oncology/ Hematology ward of the Children’s Hospital of VUH Santaros Clinics; the traumatology ward was equipped with a state-of-the-art laser Doppler for the determination of the depth of burns and wounds (at that time it was the only one of its kind in Eastern Europe, and the 40th one in the world). These initiatives and projects are only a small part of the invaluable kindness and generosity that the members and supporters of the organization have been able to pass on to Lithuanian medical institutions.
The team of Lithuanian Children’s Hope understands that working for an organization that cares for the health, emotional and psychological well-being of young patients means giving more color to life, filling hearts with hope and purpose. Every project, donation of money and time is a beacon of love and support for those who are looking forward to a better, brighter tomorrow. When kindness becomes a part of the daily lives of all members of an organization, you don’t have to look far to be inspired to move forward, to achieve the organization’s mission and goals. Earning the trust of the public, dedication to the work – that is enough to start changing children’s lives from the ground up.
For more interesting facts about the history of Lithuanian Children’s Hope, read our interview with Danguolė M. Navickienė, former President of Lithuanian Children’s Hope, here
Previous Presidents of the Organization
Rasa Šilkaitienė
- 2017 - present
- Los Angeles Chapter
Danguolė Marija Navickienė
- 1992 - 2017
- Los Angeles Chapter
Vyga Dikienė
- 1993 - 1995
- San Francisco Chapter
Jeanne Dorr
- 1993 - 1995
- Philadelphia Chapter
Daiva Banaitienė
- 1993 - 1995
- Portland Chapter
Gražina Liautaud
- 1993 - until the closure of the Chicago Chapter
- Chicago Chapter
Dr. Regina Kuliene
- 1991-1993
- Chicago Chapter
How to Volunteer
Every task becomes significant when carried out with affection and for the benefit of others. Your choice to volunteer with us is central to the success of the work carried out by ‘Lithuanian Children’s Hope’. It is only through the dedication, creativity, genuine support, and radiant smiles of our volunteers that we can breathe life and color into the eyes and hearts of the children in our care.
