Academic Centre
Jānis Rūdolfs Vējiņš (1926–2012) and Aina Rita Vējiņš (née Rozītis) (1932–2012) were both born in Latvia. In 1944, they went into exile, initially to Germany. The two met on a ship in 1950, when travelling to Australia. Settled in Melbourne, where he worked as an engineer and she began building a career as a comptometerist. Being patriots of their homeland, they wanted to support young people in Latvia.
Jānis was born in Elkšņi Parish, Viesīte County, on 8 November 1926. In 1944, he turned 18 and was then called up into the Latvian Legion. After training, he was sent to the environs of Danzig, where he was injured.
Aina Rita (née Rozītis) was born in Krustpils on 15 November 1932. She was in school when together with her mother they had to flee to Germany.
In 1950, the two left Germany for Australia on the ship "General Hersey", and met each other on the way. In 1952, they married and began living together in Melbourne, bringing up two children (Līga and Arnis), and their working lives were dedicated to their careers, in case of Jānis, a mechanical engineer, and Aina – a comptometerist at a sales firm.
When Latvia shook off the Soviet yoke, Jānis and Aina saw the need to promote Latvia's development and help Latvian youth to improve education and rise their patriotism. They delightedly became involved in supporting a number of worthy events and organizations: the UL Foundation, the Vītols Fund and "Jaunsardze" (Cadet Force of Latvia). Together with Eigits and Māra Timermanis, they also formed the association "Timermanis un Vējiņš", and co-funded and published several patriotic books, many of which were donated for educational and patriotic purposes.
The two passed away in August 2012 with only a few days apart.
Support
The Vējiņš family became the patrons of the UL Foundation in November 2007, creating scholarships named after Jānis and Aina Vējiņš for the members of Latvian student corporations, with a particular preference for members of the "Gersicania" student corporation.
In the 2008/2009 academic year, the Vējiņš Family Scholarship was awarded to Guntars Kaspars in the amount of EUR 2 200.
In the 2009/2010 academic year, the scholarship in the amount of EUR 2 560 was awarded to Jānis Arājs.
In the 2009/2010 academic year, the association "Timermanis un Vējiņš" donated memory flash bracelets and books "Mores kauja" ("The Battle of More"), to the scholarship programme "Ceļamaize 2009".
We greatly appreciate the generous support to education and development!