It is the joint statement issued yesterday by US President Donald Trump and Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin, on the 75’th Anniversary of the “Meeting on the Elbe” (the Elbe River in Germany) on April 25, 1945, as our two armies were closing in on Victory over Hitler and his Nazism in the Second World War (“Great Patriotic War” in Russia):  https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/joint-statement-president-donald-j-trump-president-vladimir-putin-russia-commemorating-75th-anniversary-meeting-elbe/

Members of the CRA Chicago Chapter Mrs. Lydia Swenton and  Mr. Igor Alexeev visited the CRA Los Angeles Chapter and met with some of the LA CRA Chapter members.  In addition to attending the liturgy at the Holy Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Cathedral on Micheltorena Street in Los Angeles, CRA Chapter member, Ludmila Petlitskaya introduced them to Archpriest Nazari Polataiko, rector of the church.   They learned of the history of the church, including some of its more famous parishioners, including Sergei Rachmaninoff and Natalie Wood, and visited the newly established museum, outlining the history of Russians in Los Angeles.

DUNYA’s Fund

Meet Evdokia (Dunya) Bykon. A beautiful child born with spina bifida, a birth defect that occurs when the spine and spinal cord don’t form properly. As a result, she is paralyzed below the chest. In the first 5 years of her young life, she underwent over 7 surgeries. Dunya has come a long way to an active and healthy life. But there is still a long way ahead for her to the complete victory. She has learned to sit independently, she has excellent grip, she can independently ride in her wheelchair and has very strong arms. Recently her father, Father Alexei Bykon (rector of the St. Nicholas Cathedral in San Francisco) and family learned of a new method of treatment of spina bifida which involves stem cell replacement. The neurosurgeons who treats Dunya are very optimistic about the possible outcome and recommend the treatment for Dunya. The treatment is only available outside the United States and not covered by insurance. Last year, Dunya underwent the first of a series of treatments, and while prognosis is good, she still needs more treatments until she can walk on her own. PLEASE HELP DUNYA realize her dream of walking and running like normal children.

Congress of Russian Americans is raising the funds for Dunya’s much needed treatments, so that she has a chance to walk and run like other children. Please donate to the CRA – Dunya’s Fund. As CRA is a non-profit 501(c)-3 organization, all of your donations are tax-deductible and 100% of the donation will go towards Dunya’s much-needed treatments.

Please send your tax-deductible donations to:

Congress of Russian Americans (Memo: Dunya’s fund)

2460 Sutter Street

San Francisco, CA 94115

Criteria for CRA scholarship are not just CRA membership and high GPA, but active volunteers in the CRA and the Russian American community.   CRA encourages youth to preserve the Russian language and spiritual and cultural heritage and by volunteering for Russian American community events, they preserve their language and learn skills to become future leaders.

The two recipients of the CRA scholarship this year were from Washington DC.  Both young men, Nicholas Rentsch and Andrey Slivin are active in the Russian Orthodox church, “Cathedral of St. John the Baptist” and the Russian American community as volunteers for church, scouts and other community events.

Xenia Woyevodsky, CRA Washington DC representative gave the scholarship awards to both at a small ceremony at St. George House (St. John the Baptist Cathedral)  on Sunday, August 6th.