It has been a little over a year since your Board was voted into office. One good thing that came out of the recent pandemic was the use of Zoom which has given the District Board and its committees the ability to meet much more often and accomplish much more for the benefit of the district. In addition to the tasks that are done each year such as organizing, printing and distributing the district directory and filing of the D-63 and D-17 for the district, I have been meeting with the district presidents quarterly, more if necessary and Karen has been meeting with the district secretaries every other month and Karen sends a detailed district secretary’s letters to all secretaries in the district with copies to the presidents. As I reported earlier, I have also appointed members to many committees. Your board members and volunteers have put in many hours over the last 14 ½ months. So, what has your board done for you lately?
We have brought back Youth Camp. Youth Camp 2023 was a success at Camp Koinonia, under the direction of Camp Director Tom Bakos. We are busy planning Youth Camp 2024.
The Committee to Review the Minutes of the 2022 Convention under the leadership of Barbara Berntsen reviewed the minutes and recommended approval by the Third District Board who approved the minutes of the 2022 Convention. The committee was thanked and dismissed.
The Scholarship Committee under the leadership of Elaine Breiland met and recommended to the Board that the Third District NOT have its own scholarship fund. It was felt that having another scholarship fund in the district would compete with and hamper the zones and lodges that presently have scholarship funds. Their suggestion was approved by the board. The committee was thanked and dismissed.
The Website Committee/Publicity under the leadership of Asbjorn Lageraaen met and decided that the district should consider having a new website. This sparked the need for yet another committee. I quickly formed the Website search committee.
The Website Search Committee under the leadership of Christine Taylor reached out to and received bids from 6 companies. The committee narrowed the field to three bids which they presented to the board. The board overwhelmingly choose Graphics 22 owned and operated by Lodge Brooklyn President Kimberly Breiland. Her bid was not only the most reasonable, but the support she offered far surpassed any other bid. The committee was thanked and dismissed. Once hired Kimberly, with the input from Website Committee-Publicity, set up a new and much improved website. Please take some time to check it out. www.3dsofn.org.
The Convention Policy Committee under the leadership of Karen Olsen-Helmold has completed phase one of its assignment, by developing a policy for lodges who wish to host a convention. This was presented to and approved by the board. I have recently sent a copy of this policy to all lodge presidents and secretaries. The committee will now continue to work by outlining policies for various board members regarding their responsibilities regarding our conventions. IF ANY LODGE OR ZONE WOULD LIKE TO HOST THE 2026 THIRD DISTRICT CONVENTION, NOW IS THE TIME TO START PLANNING BY CONTACTING EITHER KAREN OR ME SO WE CAN ASSIST YOU WITH THE LOGICS AND NUMBERS. WHILE A LOT OF WORK, HOSTING A CONVENTION IS A GREAT WAY TO MAKE MONEY FOR YOUR LODGE OR ZONE.
LOV Money Committee under the leadership of Elaine Breiland has met and made a few suggestions at the March 2023 Board meeting. The financials along with their recommendations will be given to the district finance committee who will take the district’s entire financial situation into account and will make a recommendation to the board to be voted on at our October Board meeting. In the meantime, the money from the sale of LOV has been invested in a liquid interest baring account until the final decision regarding its allocation is approved by the Board.
The By-laws and Policy Review Committee under the leadership of Barbara Berntsen has been busy reviewing the By-laws and making suggestions for changes. They made their first report to the board in April and took comments from the members of the board. They will make another presentation to the board in October of 2023 and their final recommendations at the March 2024 Board meeting at which time the Board will vote on what to present to the delegates for approval at our 2024 Convention in June 2024.
The Rezoning Committee under the leadership of Kaare Hansen has met and discussed basic groundwork to be done for the next meeting. They are taking many issues into consideration as they examine the need if any to rezone.
The Finance Committee under the leadership of Elaine Breiland will be working on the suggestions from the LOV Money Committee as well as preparing the 2024 budget. They will present their work to the board for approval at the October Board meeting.
The Lodge Revitalization Committee under the leadership of Christine Taylor has been extremely busy. The Committee developed a zone director’s checklist that each zone director is being asked to complete for each lodge within his or her zone once, hopefully twice a year. The information can come from lodge visits either virtual or in person or by phone calls or zoom meetings with lodge officers. The purpose of this report is to help the Local Lodge Support Committee to ascertain what if any help can be given to each lodge for them to grow and prosper.
The committee has also developed a leadership training program. The purpose of this program is to help lodge officers understand not only their responsibilities, but the responsibilities of their colleagues in the lodge. The first phase concentrates on executive positions such as president vice president secretary treasurer and trustees with instruction on how to set up an account with the home office, how to update your profile and how to file required documents using the program from the home office which is the only way they will accept these documents. The program will be given via zoom in each zone. It was given in Zone One where all 6 lodges were represented, and 31 members attended. The training will be given in Zone 7 on September 30th. Committee Chair and Zone 5 Director will be presenting the training in person as she visits each lodge in Zone 5. We are now in the process of setting up times to have the program in the other 4 zones.
Another task that this committee has assumed is developing a toolkit on the district website that will have programs, lists of guest speakers and activities for lodges to use at their meeting. It is meant to make the jobs of social and cultural directors easier.
The Giving Committee under the leadership of Leif Easterson has gotten the bank accounts for the Charitable Trust changed. This takes 4 months each time we must do this with Morgan Stanley. The committee has dedicated a month to each charity that the district supports.
Third District Charitable Trust – month of April
Sons of Norway Foundation – month of October
Dementia- friendly support – can be The Alzheimer’s Longest Day campaign in June or local Alzheimer’s walks. More great information and links to donate can be found on www.3dsofn.org.
The Cultural Committee, a new committee under the leadership of Andy Mathisen is setting up 2 cultural weekends for everyone to enjoy; singles, couples and families; one to be held in the northern part of the district and the other in the southern part of the district. The Cultural weekend in the north is the evening of Thursday July 18. 2024 through Sunday morning July 21, 2024. SAVE THE DATE FOR FRATERNALISM AND FUN AT ITS BEST. More information about the cultural weekend in the southern part of the district will be available soon.
I hope everyone had an enjoyable summer and as you head back to lodge activities in September, I will be updating you monthly on the activities of your Board of Directors and opportunities for all lodges and members to join in.
Fraternally,
Stephen Helmold
District 3 President.