Roque & Mark President featured in Interview for Lithuania National Radio and Television
Roque & Mark president, Albinas Markevicius, has been featured in a recent article from premier Lithuanian news source, Lithuania National Radio and Television. The article describes long-time immigrants from Lithuania, like Albinas, living in Los Angeles and Santa Monica. These immigrants are praised for how even fifty to eighty years after their initial immigration, the Lithuanian community is active with their culture, local community, and homeland.
In the article, Albinas discusses the California Lithuanian Credit Union (CLCU) in Santa Monica, which he co-founded in 1969. The organization is a not-for-profit institution operated for the benefit of its members. Albinas served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for most of the fifty-three years he was involved with the organization. He recently retired in 2022, after his extensive tenure in the volunteer, unpaid position. The CLCU helped many poor refugees start to gain financial security and eventually financial freedom. Many banks weren’t lending to low-income immigrants, and the CLCU gave them a chance. Albinas described how the U.S. had lower percentages for down payments (10 or 20% compared to Canada’s 50% during the 1960s), which allowed regular people to buy a home. The CLCU’s facilitation of loans was essential to many immigrants. More recent CLCU members have included Health-Ade Kombucha, a California beverage company that received loan help as a start-up and is now one of the leading kombucha companies in the U.S.
In another notable section of the article, Albinas discusses the CLCU’s commitment to raising funds for Lithuania after it regained its independence in 1990. He describes donations of over $10,000 every day, to help those in need during Lithuania’s difficult transition to independence, democracy, and a free market economy. The CLCU was wiring funds from individual credit union members sending money to relatives and from the Lithuanian Assistance Foundation. A non-profit co-founded by Albinas, the Lithuanian Assistance Foundation provided essential funds for organizations such as rural primary schools, orphanages, and hospitals. Additionally, funds were sent to individuals such as college students, elderly Siberian exiles who returned to Lithuania, widows, poor families, and disabled persons. Over $6 million in charitable gifts were distributed by the Lithuanian Assistance Foundation.
The article was also shown on Lithuanian television, the video highlighting Albinas’, as well as other Lithuanian immigrants, continuing commitments to the Lithuanian community in Europe and the U.S.