On 6 May 1998, the John and Ida Valauskas Foundation was set up based on an endowment bequeathed by John Valauskas (1905–1994) and Ida Valauskienė (1909–1995). John and Ida Valauskas wished that any profit (i.e., any interest or return on investment) generated by the endowment be used for awarding scholarships to distinguished students of the Faculty of Medicine at Vilnius University.

In 2022, on the initiative of the administrator of the foundation, it was decided to dissolve the foundation and use the remaining 45,000 euros to create a sub-fund within the VU Endowment Fund. According to the original request of John and Ida Valauskas, the Faculty of Medicine uses any profit from the sub-fund capital for one-off scholarships. The main criterion for awarding the scholarships is the individual performance of a student. The scholarships are awarded at the faculty on the occasion of Day of the Restoration of the Independence of Lithuania, which is celebrated on 11 March each year.

John Valauskas (1905–1994)

John Valauskas was born in 1905 into a family of Lithuanian emigrants in Chicago, USA. During his childhood, he and his father returned to Lithuania, where John graduated from secondary school and lived through WWI. John established and commanded a squad of rifleman in 1922, and in 1923, he participated in the uprising to return the Klaipėda Region to Lithuania. He began serving in the Lithuanian Army in 1926.

Chicago, John Valauskas

At the end of WWII, John fled via Germany to the United States and spent most of his remaining life in Chicago. He worked in a factory for several years, and subsequently in real estate rental. He met and married Ida Mačiukaitė in Chicago.

Ida Mačiukaitė-Valauskienė (1909–1995)

Ida Mačiukaitė was born in 1909 in the village of Suntautai in Biržai County. In 1921, the family moved to Vilnius, where Ida graduated from Vytautas Magnus Gymnasium. She enrolled to study in the Pharmacy Department of the Faculty of Medicine at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas in 1932. A year later, she transferred to the legal department of the Faculty of Law at the same university.

Ida Mačiukaitė-Valauskienė, Biržai

After graduation, Ida got a job at the Kaunas Railway Board. When Vilnius was returned to Lithuania in 1939, she returned there. She started working as a technical secretary in the office of the Midwifery School in 1941, and the following year she began working as an assistant accountant within the administration of Vilnius University. At the end of WWII, she fled to Germany and lived in a refugee camp for several years. When she later arrived in America, she settled in Chicago and got married there.

Philanthropy

John and Ida Valauskas actively participated in the activities of Lithuanian–American organisations. They were members of the Lithuanian–American Council, the Lithuanian–American Foundation, the Lithuanian Foundation, the Knights of Lithuania, the Daughters of Lithuania, the Lithuanian–American Riflemen’s Association, the Lithuanian—American Club in Florida, and the Saint Casimir Catholic Mission.

As well as participating in the activities of the organisations listed above, they also made donations to them. They also actively backed the initiative in Portland, Oregon to build a shrine to Lithuanian martyrs in Siberian exile and those who perished as victims of tyranny for the freedom of Lithuania. They supported and bequeathed money to the American Lithuanian Cultural Archives, for the construction of a children’s foster care home, and for the care of three orphans in Lithuania.

Paminklas Lietuvos laisvės kovotojams ir Sibiro kankiniams atminti, VU Medicinos fakultetas

They made donations to the Lithuanian Catholics at the Marian Home in Marijampolė, several hospitals in Vilnius, schools for the blind and visually impaired in Kaunas, Klaipėda and Šiauliai, and a long-term fund for the three orphans that Ida Valauskienė herself supported. A total of 20% of their assets were allocated to the Faculty of Medicine at Vilnius University for the establishment of a long-term fund for the highest-performing students.

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You can also donate via a bank transfer:

IBAN → LT67 7300 0101 7171 5331 (Swedbank)
Payment purpose → Donation to Valauskas Sub-fund
Recipient → Paramos fondas Vilniaus universiteto fondas (company code 304222713)

For contribution contracts over 14.5 thousand euros notarization is required. Vilnius University Foundation will take care of it. Contact us in a convenient way.

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