Programs at the Latvian center Gaŗezers have received a USD 41,000 donation from profit made during last year’s song festival in Chicago.

Alberts Legzdiņš and other members of the song festival’s organizing committee announced the donation during the opening ceremony of the Gaŗezers summer high school. The song festival, in which students from the high school participated as choir singers and folk dancers, was held July 2002 in Chicago.

The largest share of the donation—USD 18,000—is earmarked for the high school. The high school also received USD 2,000 toward its participation in the next general song festival in the United States, scheduled in 2007 in Indianapolis.

The Latvian center itself received USD 15,000 for capital projects, Legzdiņš announced.

Also benefitting from the donation are the Gaŗezers kindergarten (USD 1,000), the children’s camp (USD 2,000) and the middle school (USD 3,000).

In an 88-6 vote during a special meeting of the Saeima, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga has been re-elected president of Latvia.

The 65-year-old Vīķe-Freiberga, first elected as a compromise candidate four years ago, was the only candidate considered this time by the 100-seat parliament. Her second term will expire in 2007.

In a speech immediately after her re-election, Vīķe-Freiberga thanked legislators for their overwhelming support.

“I see it as a sign,” the president said, “that we in Latvia are able to unite over those major goals and ideals that we would like to see brought to life.”

Vīķe-Freiberga has managed to maintain consistently high popularity, despite being someone who returned to Latvia after five decades of exile and despite a few unpopular decisions. Most recently, she was criticized by some for her support of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

A few critics also questioned why members of the ruling coalition pushed for an earlier presidential election in March. A vote in the Saeima was originally set for March 12, but was canceled after legal experts suggested such a move could cause constitutional problems.

In Latvia, the president is elected by parliament, although some political leaders have pushed for a switch to a direct election by voters. At least 51 members of parliament have to support a candidate for him or her to be elected president.

The role of president is largely symbolic, with day-to-day management of the country given to the prime minister and the Cabinet of Ministers. But Vīķe-Freiberga, who holds the distinction of being the first woman president of an Eastern European nation, has used her office to draw attention to Latvia especially as it sought and won invitations to join both the European Union and the NATO defense alliance.

Vīķe-Freiberga, at the time a dual citizen of Canada and Latvia, was elected in 1999 after the parliament failed to choose a president from a slate of five candidates. A retired psychology professor at the Universite de Montreal, Vīķe-Freiberga had returned to Latvia to run the Latvian Institute, a government-sponsored effort aimed at shaping the nation’s image abroad. To become president, she had to renounce her Canadian citizenship.

Dace Copeland has been re-elected president of the American Latvian Association during the organization’s 52nd annual congress in St. Paul, Minn., while delegates also approved a 2003 budget of USD 649,080.

Copeland will lead a board of directors largely unchanged from the ALA’s current administration. Almost all the candidates put forward by the nominating committee were approved by acclamation.

Getting the delegates to agree on the new budget was harder. After nearly an hour of debate May 3 over several line items, delegates finally gave their overwhelming support, but they also recommended the ALA’s board of directors seek USD 30,000 in cuts.

Delegates defeated a motion to recommend USD 55,000 in cuts.

At issue was why the organization still needs to spend a projected USD 55,000 on lobbying for expansion of the NATO defense alliance. ALA officials conceded that approval by the U.S. Senate—expected shortly after floor debate is to begin May 6—has come sooner than expected, suggesting that lobbying efforts could be scaled back.

But Copeland told delegates that the fight to get Latvia and six other Eastern and Central European nations into NATO is not yet over. Even if, as expected, the U.S. Senate ratifies expansion, many other NATO members still need to be convinced in the coming year, Copeland said.

While where to make cuts is left to the discretion of the board of directors, some delegates suggested several places where dollars could be trimmed from the new budget. Among them is the “Sveika, Latvija!” program that sends Latvian-American school children on a two-week summer tour of the homeland. The new budget forecasts USD 82,300 in spending for the program, offset by USD 55,570 in revenue meant for it.

Other delegates stood up for program, including former ALA chair Jānis Kukainis. He noted that it’s important to get young people involved in the Latvian community. His son, Roberts, is chair of the American Latvian Youth Association.

Overall, the new budget is lower than the USD 723,550 approved last year. According to the organization’s financial report, it actually spent only USD 563,743 in 2002.

In voting for ALA’s officers, delegates supported a slate that included Copeland as president; Juris Mežinskis, vice president and head of the information office; Jānis Grāmatiņš, treasurer; Ilze Kalniņa, secretary; Mārtiņš Duhms, fundraising officer; Lilita Spure, head of the culture office; Ēriks Krūmiņš, head of the Cooperation With Latvia program; Jānis Robiņš, head of the sports office, and Vija Zuntaka-Bērziņa, chair of the ALA Culture Fund.

Elected to the ALA’s audit committee were Kārlis Ķirsis, Pēteris Grotāns and Jānis Vītols. Aivars Zeltiņš also was a candidate for the committee.

Delegates elected Ilze Kancāne the new head of education office. Kancāne, nominated from the floor, defeated the nominating committee’s choice, Inese Račevska, by a vote of 72-14.