I hope everyone celebrated the 17th of Mai with lots of food, fun, and fraternalism. Karen and I had the pleasure of celebrating the day with the officers and members of North Carolina Vikings Lodge in Raleigh, NC. It was great to meet their new officers and spend time getting to know some of their members. We followed that with a visit to Norge Norsemen, the satellite lodge of Hampton Roads. We completed our trip with a meeting of the 2026 convention committee. The planning is coming along very well. Lodges should start to plan now to send delegates to this great event.
I regret to have to inform you that our Vice President, Robert Johnson had to resign from the position for personal reasons. I want to thank Bob for all he did as Vice President. I am pleased to announce that Kathleen Brink has been appointed and approved to take over as Vice President for the remainder of this term. I know Katie will do an excellent job. However, that leaves a vacancy for the position of assistant secretary. The only mandatory task is to take minutes at our board meetings. If anyone is interested, they should contact me.
Summer is here and most lodges are off for two months with no meetings, but with picnics, and other events. The Third District is having three major events this summer also:
Youth camp at Camp Koinonia in Highland Lake, New York is from Sunday July 20th to Saturday July 26th. It is not too late to get your children and grandchildren to attend. Just contact Katie Brink at .
Cultural camp at Isle of the Palms, South Carolina is from Thursday June 26th to Sunday June 29th including a tour of Fort Moultrie for those that are interested. There are still a few rooms available so contact Katie Brink at .
The Third District Picnic will be on Saturday August 23rd at Nansen Lodge Staten Island, New York from 10 am to 4 pm with food, games and live music. Last year’s picnic was a great event and this year’s looks to be even better. For more information contact Paul Kornbrekke at .
The Third District will have a booth at Scanfest in Budd Lake, New Jersey this year to help recruit new members. We are looking for volunteers to help man the booth. If you are willing, please contact Diana Syvertsen at .
The District Revitalization Committee has sent out a questionnaire to all lodges to answer questions about their lodges. Please answer it and return it to Christine Taylor as soon as possible so the district can help your lodge recruit and retain members.
And now, as I have done in previous messages about new district board members, I would like to highlight Linda Hestvik, the new Zone 6 Director. Please read her information here in her own words.
Zone 6 Director Linda Hestvik has been a member of SON for 38 years. My Grandfather, Carl W. Refsland, was a 3D Trustee in 1936-1938. My father was from Bodo, Norway and my mother was from Stavanger- both SON members. Linda is currently VP and Membership Chair of the Washington Lodge 3-428 located in the Washington DC area. Linda is also participating in a leadership development program for International SON. She has worked as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner in a private practice for 34 years. Linda has completed 38 marathons including 5 Ironman races. She lives in Northern Virginia with her partner Tim.
Thank you, Linda.
At this time Karen and I would like to wish you all a very happy summer, until my next message in the fall.
Fraternally,
Stephen Helmold