On this New Year’s Eve, we raise a heartfelt toast to our generous and ever-giving Estonian American community. Thank you. May you send the old year off with joy in your hearts and welcome the new one with hope, purpose, and connection.

As our Council looks back on 2025, we do so with immense gratitude. The Year of the Estonian Book made this an especially meaningful, rich and activity-filled year—marked by creativity, shared joy, and purposeful hard work across our community. It was a year that reminded us how deeply culture, history, and community sustain one another.

We extend our sincere thanks to everyone in the Estonian-American community, as well as to friends, partners, and supporters beyond it, whose generosity made it possible for our mission to continue in full force. Thanks to your donations, we were able to support an extraordinary range of Estonian cultural, educational, and advocacy initiatives.

Your support reached youth programs and children’s camps in both the United States and Estonia; strengthened community and cultural organizations; and advanced essential advocacy efforts in support of Estonia’s security and Estonian American interests in Washington, DC. It helped bring Estonian music and culture to audiences across the country—from Arsis Bell Choir tour stops throughout the U.S., to outstanding Baltic film festivals showcasing creative voices from Estonia. Indeed, it helped publish a two-volume book, that is just as much a work of art as a fascinating read, documenting the correspondence in exile between Estonian poet Marie Under and literary figure Ivar Ivask, then in the US.

Together, we supported documentaries and publications that preserve and share the stories of Estonians abroad. We sent U.S. choirs and folk dance groups to Laulupidu and Tantsupidu. And we welcomed world-class Estonian music to American stages—most notably through two sold-out Carnegie Hall concerts, where audiences gathered to celebrate the 90th birthday of the one-and-only Arvo Pärt, performed by the Grammy-award-winning Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir. Quite a year, indeed.

All of this—and so much more—was made possible because of you. Your support, your community, your donations, your time.

As we send off the year, we say suur tänu and head vana aasta lõppu (thank you) to our community here in the United States, and HEAD UUT AASTAT (Happy New Year) to friends and family abroad in Estonia, where the new year has already begun. We look ahead with optimism and renewed commitment, inspired by what we have accomplished together.

Thank you for being part of this journey, and cheers to the year to come.

As we turn the page to the new challenges and dreams of 2026, some have asked the following, and so we warmly remind friends and supporters that donations for 2025 may still be made through year-end and are fully tax-deductible—helping ensure that this shared work continues into the year ahead. Visit our website to make a donation, to sign up for our newsletter, or just to check it out.

Elagu Eesti!

Elagu Eesti rahvas!