Congress of Russian Americans (CRA), was a proud sponsor, along with the Russian American Women’s League (RAWL) of the recent week-long Orthodox Youth Conference 2022. With the blessing of Archbishop Kyrill of the Western American Diocese of the ROCOR church, the conference and camp was organized by V. Rev. Paul Volmensky of the Holy Ascension Church in Sacramento, CA the week of July 17 through 23 at the Russian River Orthodox church of Our Lady of Kazan in Guerneville, CA. Nestled amongst the California majestic redwoods and on the shores of the Russian River, named Ashokawna by the Southern Pomo Indians and renamed Slavyanka when the Russian American Company (RAC) came to Northern California in 1812 and established the settlement of Fort Ross. RAC established three ranches near Fort Ross, one of which, the Kostromitinov Ranch, stretched along the Russian River near the mouth of Willow Creek. The Russian River is the second-largest river (after the Sacramento River) flowing through the nine-county Greater San Francisco Bay Area. According to the USGS, variant names of the Russian River include Misallaako, Rio Ruso, Shabaikai, and Slavyanka.There were over 50 participants at the conference that included youth of various ages and several parents who came to help supervise and oversee some of the activities. With a full daily schedule of prayer, speeches, workshops and projects, the group did have some time for special outings, including a trip and special supper at Fort Ross, Armstrong Redwood Forest, the Petrified Forest and pilgrimage to the Holy Assumption Monastery (both in Calistoga), as well as a day at the beach at Bodega Bay with seal watching at Goats Rock and kayaking on the Russian River.
The camp was broken down by 8:30am on Saturday, July 23 when the liturgy began in celebration of the Feast Day of the Our Lady of Kazan church. The potluck lunch was coordinated by Victoria Sabelnik with a core group of Russian River residents and guests bringing food, salads, desserts, drinks to add to a delicious barbeque of ribs and chicken. After a speech by Bishop Theodosy to thank the clergy, nuns and over 100 guests that attended the festal luncheon, the sponsors, CRA and RAWL were thanked. Bishop Theodosy thanked CRA for the continued work in the community, especially with the youth. Natalie Sabelnik, CRA president took the opportunity of the youth conference and Feast Day to present Daniil Vorobiov-Wilson with this year’s CRA scholarship. The Vorobiov-Wilson family have been CRA members and volunteers for many years and when Daniil turned 18 he joined CRA himself. His exemplary grades in both English and Russian school, coupled with his many years of volunteering in the community made him an excellent candidate and recipient of the CRA scholarship.
CRA invites all of our Russian-American youth to become members, not just to be eligible for the scholarship, but to participate and volunteer in our numerous projects and programs, which help build work and life skills, promote teamwork and cultivate future leaders in our community.
