Lauderdale Lodge, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Welcome I Coming Events I Past Events I About Us I Join Us I Culture I Links I Aage's Notebook
We had a nice Sunday picnic with good hamburgers and norwegian hot dogs. Afterwards we had fun playing all the games.
Send comments and corrections to:
[email protected]
Attendees: President Karen, Leif, Liva, Gerd, Else, Laila
We discussed the picnic last Sunday and were surprised to hear that the rent for the pavilion was $162. None of us were informed of this ahead of time. Last year we only paid $60. Leif is going to call the park and see if we can get a refund since we booked the event in June 2006 when it was still advertised at the lower price. Financial Secretary Peggy reported that we had 39 people attend the picnic (a little short of our goal of 60) at $10 per person. Our income was $405, but expenses were $670.85 so our loss was $265.85. Next year's picnic will be the 4th Sunday in April, which is April 27. Before we book it, Karen and Leif will research the prices for other parks. It needs to have rest rooms, horse shoe pit and a play ground close by. Their findings will be included in the next newsletter if we decide to change location or raise prices.
We talked about the membership list that we have now, which consists of 145 addresses. Leif wants to identify which members are active and try to encourage more of our members to attend the meetings. Karen will call her Sun Sentinel Local Events contact and let them know that Laila is planning to advertise our meetings there and also in the Miami Herald Lifestyle.
Last meeting's minutes were read and approved. Peggy corrected the sentence about our investments to say CD instead of Money Market account. Reporting the balances in our checking and savings account was also discussed and we decided to leave those numbers out for future board meeting minutes and instead report this in a yearly financial statement. Instead we will only be reporting how much money came in and was paid out for each event. Peggy stated that she would like to be audited sometime, but we are not sure who does that.
President Karen brought up that she has gotten several emails from HQ asking when we will be doing the Leadership Training. This should be completed before fall. She will call HQ and find out if this is voluntary and get the name of the person organizing this.
Leif inquired about the Viking boat status. Jan Nataas is taking charge and getting the oars, which cost about $2000 and might be shipped with Willy Hansen's next Norwill shipment. The wood is also being bought so the repairs are in the works. There has been an offer made to purchase our boat, but we have decided not to sell. Instead we are asking for donations and sponsorship for repair material and hoping to be ready to sail at the regatta in the fall.
We discussed the next social event: the 17-mai celebration and pool party at President Karen's house on May 12th. We all agreed on which traditional Norwegian food to bring and it will be a surprise to the members. The price for adults is $10 and free for children. Karen will also be hosting a bartender who will offer $2 drinks. We discussed what each of the board officers can do to bring more people. We are having a raffle and appreciate very much if members donate items. Some good ideas are books, wine, bath articles or gift cards. The May newsletter with the invitation needs to go out earlier than previous newsletters as we have gotten several concerns about them being mailed too late.
A letter from Rev. Alfred Thompson was read aloud. He is impressed with the quality of the newsletters and the frequent activities of the lodge and he thanked us for keeping the Norwegian heritage alive. We discussed another member's letter, which was also read during the meeting. The member was dissatisfied with the March newsletter and, among other things, stated that the content of the newsletter was too liberal. President Karen will write a response letter and invite the member to contribute his views on the matter to our newsletter.
Lastly, we discussed other activities we could do to promote Sons of Norway. Treasurer Liva said that her Dutch club has happy hours, carnival parties and "kaffeslaberas" (having coffee and cake at a member's house). Other things such as the business card exchange and inviting other cultural organizations also came up. All the board members should have Sons of Norway business cards to hand out to prospective new members. We need to find out how to get in touch with more Norwegians in the area. We talked about having a New Member Dinner, where HQ will refund us up to $400 as long as we have 10 prospective members, but it has not worked out very well in the past. The guests often failed to became members.
The next Board Meeting is set for Wednesday August 15th at 7 pm at a new location: Aruba Beach Caf� in Fort Lauderdale. Everyone is welcome, let's meet at the beach!
Laila Fosse
Editor