USA, Los Angeles

In 2016, for objective reasons, the Los Angeles Odesa Community suspended its activities. However, in August 2018, the renewed Odesa Community of Los Angeles, which is a branch of the Worldwide Club of Odesites, resumed its active work.

The main work of creating the community, practically with a new membership, was carried out by Boris Yakovlevich Yudelevich, who on August 4, 2018, gathered everyone interested in joining the organization for an organizational meeting. He was also unanimously elected head of the Worldwide Club of Odesites branch and president of the Odesa Community of Los Angeles.

At the same time, the Community Council was also elected. In the first row (from left to right):
Larisa Tamashpolskaya (Council Secretary), Sonya Pokutinskaya (member of the editorial board of the revived newspaper “Odesa Lighthouse”), Lyudmila Grin (Vice President of the Community), Eduard Goff (Council member, photographer);
in the second row (from left to right): Boris Yudelevich (President of the Community), Igor Goncharov (Council member), Vitaliy Glazer (Council member), Ilya Gontar (Vice President, editor of the newspaper “Odesa Lighthouse”), Sergey Oigenblik (Council member, SMM specialist, webmaster).

The Los Angeles City Council provided the community with a small premises, which will undoubtedly make it possible to carry out more active work. The first issue of the community newspaper has already been published.

Contact telephone numbers (Viber — free of charge):
+13236295454 – Boris Yudelevich
+18187008307 – Ilya Gontar
+13232447917 – Sergey Oigenblik
E-mail (Boris Yudelevich): boka6969@yandex.com

On January 23, 2000, at a meeting of Odesites living in Los Angeles, attended by approximately 500 people, a decision was made to establish the Association “Odesa Community of Los Angeles”. The Charter was approved, and the Community Council, Audit Commission, and editorial board of the community newspaper “Odesa Lighthouse” were elected. The first issue of the newspaper was published in January 2000. At its first meeting, the Council elected a president (Boris Tsipis), two vice presidents, and the editor of “Odesa Lighthouse”.

Within just two years, the community had grown to more than 1,000 members and continued to expand. Moreover, a large number of our fellow Odesites living in other cities across the United States, as well as in Germany, Israel, Australia, Canada, and other countries, expressed a desire to join this association of Odesites. This was encouraged by the growing popularity of the newspaper “Odesa Lighthouse”, which had subscribers in more than 20 U.S. states, the countries listed above, as well as the United Kingdom, Latvia, Russia, and Ukraine (including Odesa). All community members have membership identification cards. The Association Council holds meetings once a month. At these meetings, the work plan for the following month is considered, and the work completed during the previous month is discussed. Once a year, general reporting meetings of community members are held, and once every two years, reporting and election meetings are held.

Sources of funding: annual membership fees ($5), donations to the newspaper, and sponsorship.

The Community Council, under the leadership of Boris Tsipis, carries out significant and systematic work. Some areas of the Council’s activities include organizing excursions, regular trips for recreation and spa treatments to Hot Springs, and themed social evenings. The “Club of Interesting Meetings”, which attracts a large audience, meets every week.

The community’s printed publication, the newspaper “Odesa Lighthouse”, plays an active role in the life of the community (the first two issues of the newspaper were edited by A. Shepievker, from March 2000 to September 2004 by A. Gorbatyuk, and currently by Ya. Shvartsberg). At the initiative of the editorial board, several months after the Association was established, an additional provision was added to its Charter (“The main task of the community should be to provide any assistance possible to Odesa…”). Thanks to this provision, the Los Angeles community, unlike other similar associations established outside Odesa, provides ongoing assistance to its native city.

 Thus, in 2000, a branch of the Odesa Opera House Rescue Foundation was established. With the funds raised under its auspices, three piles were purchased for the foundation of the theater, and part of the money was spent on roof repairs. Assistance is regularly provided to children’s institutions (orphanages and boarding schools) in the form of clothing, office equipment, and toys. One-time assistance was provided to children from disadvantaged families who were under guardianship. Since 2001, the “Fund for Assistance to Needy Odesites”, established within the community, has regularly provided financial assistance through its representative in Odesa to nine families living below the poverty line.

I never tire of repeating: if the purpose is simply to gather in a “Russian” restaurant, drink some vodka with potatoes and herring, and, feeling nostalgic, sing something “for Odesa-mama”, is it really necessary to create communities and other “Odesa Houses” with such incredible fanfare? Concern for the city you left behind, a city that is today in a deplorable state — that, in my opinion, is what should guide people who are trying to organize a community of Odesites. And I wish such enthusiasts every success.

Sincerely
Anatoly Gorbatyuk
Member of the Presidential Council of the Worldwide Club of Odesites, former editor of “Odesa Lighthouse”
Address of the Odesa Community of Los Angeles: “Odesskoye Zemlyachestvo” 1120 N. Fuller Ave, # 208
Los Angeles, CA 90046 USA
Tel.: (323) 874-7073