Trench-candle season begins: from 7 September we also work on Saturdays

Trench-candle season is starting. Volunteers have been welcome in the basement of the Kaunas Christ’s Resurrection Basilica (Žemaičių g. 31A) all summer; from next week, 7 September, we also work on Saturdays, morning to evening. We are waiting for those who have spent more than one autumn with us, and for newcomers, whom we are especially glad to see. No experience needed: a tin, a strip of cardboard and a pair of hands – we show you everything on the spot.

When to come

• Monday to Friday, 5–8 p.m.
• Saturdays, 10 a.m.–8 p.m. – the first one on 12 September.

For school students we sign off community-service hours. The full weekly schedule – including the days when paraffin is poured at another address – is in the volunteering calendar. For a group, a class or a team it is best to arrange in advance: +370 612 69766.

What we collect for the candles

• Clean tins – from cat and dog food, pet food, coffee and the like, washed and without labels. Not suitable: tea tins and drink cans (beer and others).
• Paraffin, old candles, burnt-out or new tea lights, wax – cosmetic (treatment) wax works too.

Bring all of it to the basilica basement at the hours above. If you are from another town, get in touch about handing it over – by phone +370 612 69766, by e-mail info@visiisvien.lt or by message on our Facebook page.

Why we ask for paraffin – and for support

People bring the tins, volunteers cut and fold the cardboard – that much of a candle costs nothing. Paraffin is the one thing we have to buy, and we need a lot of it: 1 kg of paraffin (about 1 €) makes four candles, and in one pouring weekend we fill about 4,000 candles – roughly a tonne of paraffin, at 800–1,200 € per tonne. Since April the “Fire of Freedom” project has bought five tonnes, and we collected another 800 kg from churches and shrines all over Lithuania – the numbers are in the mid-project report.

That is why monthly support strengthens candle-making most: when we know that a few, a dozen or a few dozen euros will arrive every month, we can order paraffin ahead instead of waiting until the sum for a tonne adds up. A one-off gift turns into paraffin just as directly – every euro is four candles in a trench.

Tyres for frontline vehicles

And while the candle season gets going, we are raising support for tyres for frontline vehicles: 900 € in total, and we are not yet halfway. Yesterday we thanked our partners for tens of tonnes of aid – the tyres are the part we have to buy ourselves. You can chip in here: Tyres for frontline vehicles.

In the photos: the tins and burnt-out tea lights that Dainora from Prienai brought us. Thank you!

See you in the basement. Visi išvien – all together. 🇱🇹🇺🇦