Lithuanian Jewish Community youth activities coordinator Pavel Guliakov has provided a report on youth activities for the month of May as most children in Lithuania have finished school and are busy enjoying the first weeks of summer vacation.

The Ilan Club is closing for summer and getting ready for summer camps, but had three activities in May. On the 15th children and parents visited a fire station, got to try out firefighting equipment, learned about how firefighters live and had an informative outing. On May 22 the kids learned about the Israeli military and the life of Israeli soldiers at the Lithuanian Jewish Community. On May 29 the club had an end-of-season closing event called Jewish social networks where counselors presented an interesting activity involving social media and mobile telephones, which most of the children already use regularly and enthusiastically.

The Knafaim Club for adolescents in the run-up to the summer Olympics games and the European football championship decided to hold a discussion about Israeli sports. Counselors were surprised by how much the young people knew about sports in Israel. They also discussed the tragic Munich Olympics games of 1972. On May 20 the discussion centered around life, politics and the situation in Israel. On May 27 Knafaim held a closing ceremony and a discussion evaluating the year past, what changed over the year and what challenges face them next year.

Outside Vilnius, on April 15 regional programs coordinator Mark Zaičik and counselors held a closing ceremony for the kids in Kaunas. On May 29 they did the same for the kids in Klaipėda at the Jewish community there. Summer camps and day camps are coming up in Klaipėda and the entire team of youth program staff said they were very happy to have had the opportunity to educate Jewish children around Lithuania and to play a part in their developing Jewish identities.