February 2021 – Imanta Newsletter

Edmonton Latvian Society Imanta wishes a Happy and Better New Year to all of our members and friends and hopes everyone stays safe and healthy. Like for many organizations, this past year has been much more different for Imanta. We were not able to celebrate our events or meet in person and still are not able to.

Our annual general meeting will take place on Monday, March 29th, at 7pm via Google meet. All current members will receive the minutes of last year’s meeting via email with a link to join this meeting. We will post the link on our website on the 29th or a few days before. Come back and check the website often. Those who purchased their memberships in September 2020 are considered current members. Information on how to purchase a current membership can be found here: https://imanta.ca/membership-form/

HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE 2020 YEAR:

Latvia’s 102 Anniversary on November 18th Independence day was celebrated by lighting up the High Level Bridge in Edmonton in the colours of the Latvian flag. A short dance video was filmed at the end of October as a part of a country wide compilation for November 18th Independence Day celebration. This video was sent to LNAK (Latvian National Association in Canada) and is now available to view at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCfTayx3JuI&t=60s This was the first virtual event for the Latvian community in Canada celebrated from coast to coast.

There was also the first virtual musical Latvian-Christmas sing along from different Canadian Latvian musical families. The video is available for you to watch on our December 29th post.

Our 2020 scholarship recipients were announced in December. Congratulations to Nicole, Gita and Daniels. Imanta is proud to announce that since the scholarship program commenced in 2010, we have awarded 100 scholarships for a total of $231,000. We are very grateful to have the AGLC casino money which allows us to continuously sponsor our scholarship, seniors taxi, and our children’s programs.

Our children’s program/school was reopened for classes last September but was not able to continue in class activities due to Covid-19. Teachers are finding creative ways to connect with children and parents in many different ways.

Seniors taxi vouchers are still available for transportation needs. Please email us if you need more vouchers.

One of our members, Peter Green, just celebrated his 100th Birthday on February 22nd! Imanta congratulated Peter on reaching this important milestone and wished him good health and happiness. A few of our members went to sing for Peter in his driveway. It was great to see Peter in good spirits and singing along to one of the songs. The Latvian Ambassador to Canada, Karlis Eihenbaums, also sent a letter of congratulations to Peter and also personally called him on February 22nd. Imanta will celebrate 74 years on March 8th, and one of its founding members, Viola Baker, just celebrated her 99th Birthday !

Ligo 2021 is still likely to be affected by Covid-19 and provincial health restriction guidelines, but we will keep you informed. For the most up to date information on what’s happening in Imanta you can always visit us here on our website or follow us on Facebook. You can sign up to receive automatic notifications by email whenever new information is posted to our site. Just scroll to the bottom of our webpage and enter your email address!