 During this two-year period of service, Šilingas gathered and dispensed funds to aid Lithuanians displaced by war in Saint Petersburg, particularly to writers and artists.He also opened a boys' high school for Lithuanians in Voronezh with Martynas Yčas, with whom he also participated in the First and Second Lithuanian Conferences in Stockholm to organize Lithuania's government during and after World War I.On October 25, 1915, Šilingas, Balys Sruoga, and Ignas Šeinius met with Maxim Gorki to discuss publishing a book in Russian about Lithuania.