Let’s Warm Up Little Hearts

Mummy, I know that the sun is yellow, the sky is blue, the grass is green and the wings of a dove are white... But what is the colour of HOPE? The hope to get better, to live, to feel, to see, to travel, to enjoy every day and every little victory...

What can be answered to this question to a child with severe oncological disease? To a child, whose routine consists of chemotherapy procedures, constant trips to medical institutions, large quantities of drugs, bone marrow transplantations, mommy’s eyes full of love and desire to help, her heart full of sorrow... and careless childhood that has ended too soon... Maybe it is unnecessary to name the colour of HOPE, maybe it can be given, and maybe it can help for a little heart not to stop beating, to make it believe in the Christmas miracle...

Let us give the hope to live!

Unfortunately, the world is divided into two parts: the healthy and the sick ones. Where frequently the healthy ones do not see that dark side of the world, where people marked by suffering and misfortunes live. No one will be able to answer, why misfortunes happen in the first place. You live a healthy and a happy life. Suddenly, there is a disease. A bolt from the blue... There are a lot of diseases.... They all have strange, mysterious names hiding different sorts of pain.

For example, there is a disease called Leucemia. It hides feebleness of blood that carries vitality through our veins. It has a different name: blood cancer.

It is no easier for the healthy people around. The name of the disease lingers on the lips of the patients just like the Lord’s Prayer. They get used to it. The only thing is, when it rains, it pours... Usually, the disease is a partner of poverty. Even if today an affluent person can fight cancer, this plague of the humankind, the poor one, unfortunately, stands unarmed as a little roe against a hungry bear. One can only wait for a miracle to happen...

Luckily, people are not only divided into the sick and the healthy ones. People can be divided into more cheerful categories: people waiting for a miracle and people creating miracles. Fortunately, today, an increasing number of people gifted with skills and business success feel an urge to create miracles. When creating miracles, not only does a person change the destiny of someone, the person creates memories: create a feast to a child and the Santa Claus will move leaving some space for you to sit: sit on the bench of fairy-tales and give children their health back or at least ease their road and you will be more eternal as those persons who have monuments built for them, because you will stay in the precious childhood memories.

In order for the activity of LIONS to gain a positive moral and material acknowledgement (LIONS Code of Conduct), believing in the necessity and importance of the activity of their own club and in order to be of service to the society as much as possible, in 2006, the members of the club, sisters Loreta Beržinskienė and the president Birutė Jokužienė suggested organising a charity auction and donate the money collected to the families raising children with cancer. The doctors-lionesses have concluded the lists of children with disease, the other group visited families, became acquainted with parents and found out their problems. Loreta Beržinskienė and Violeta Jusionienė took initiative to their own hands and approached painters, the works of which could interest the participants of the upcoming auction, the others created the script for the event.

This is how the greatest and now traditional event of Klaipėda County Women’s LIONS Club Smiltė, a little miracle known as the charity auction “Sušildykime Mažąsias Širdeles” has started. In this event, all people pay for paintings as much as they can and, thus, support children and their families who have been touched by the misfortune threatening with death.

We cannot take the pain of others, but we can ease it, we can give the weapon for those who fight with the disease. It is money. The meaning of which in the life of a healthy and a strong person is one: to have. In the life of a sick person, it is more serious: to be.

This is the purpose and the idea of this auction: the art has become an intermediary between the world of the healthy ones and that of the sick ones; money turns into spells that can turn a thorny path of the little diseased people into the crystal stairs to the palace of life. On Christmas Eve, we all have a chance to create a miracle. By supporting those who have been stricken by the misfortune, we can feel gratified that we are healthy. We are strong. We are sensitive. We can help. Just before Christmas, sisters of the Club prepare a real Christmas fairy-tale for the children they support; they invite them all to a gathering, a cheerful soirée with the Santa Claus. It is a warm eventide of December, when the supported families with their offspring gather in the Hall of Ąžuolynas High School, singing and dancing together and waiting for the gifts. The parents are smiling, as they see the glowing faces of their little ones; they are happy about the treats prepared by the sisters of the Club. Both the little patients and their healthy brothers and sisters receive some gifts.

The sisters of the Club have already donated various amounts according to the needs and the resources available to 62 families.

In 2006, painters have provided 25 works of art for the auctions, and participants of the event have donated 83 000 LTL. President B.Jokužienė.

2007–31 works of art– LTL 134,500 donated; President J.Cirtautienė;

2008–21 works of art– LTL 82,800 donated; President V.Ročienė;

2009–25 works of art– LTL 95,400 donated; President V.Lazauskienė;

2010–25 works of art– LTL 109,450 donated; President R.Januškienė;

2011–35 works of art– LTL 100,000 donated; President V.Prižgintienė;

2012–35 works of art– LTL 104,310 donated; President L.Beržinskienė;

2013–37 works of art– LTL 138,085.85 donated; President V.Petkienė;

2014–38 works of art– LTL 180,000 donated; President A.Pečeliūnienė.

The charity auction “Sušildykime Mažąsias Širdeles” has already received a lot of positive feedback. Painters make special preparations for the event and potential participants plan their time. We are happy not only because of the donated amounts; great joy is brought by the thought that we have so many friends and acquaintances who are honest, noble and who understand our thoughts and goals well and who support us, participate and donate during the event.