3D Third District Today November 2012 3D-100 years – Happy Thanksgiving The mission of Sons of Norway is to promote and to preserve the heritage and culture of Norway, to celebrate our relationship with other Nordic countries, and to provide quality insurance and financial products to its members. Fra Presidenten, Gail Ekloff November is election of officers---- Those who accepted a position THANK YOU! Please support the efforts of the new officers, specifically.... support their new ideas! Some will be a refreshing change and others might be a learning experience. Remember that change can be good! Getting out of your comfort zone is never easy. In this ever-changing world things must change to grow and survive. However, let's move forward without forgetting the significance of our long-standing traditions and ceremonies. Please remember that one of the major rules of the order is that every lodge must have 8 meetings a year, with at least 4 being business meetings. Many lodges have a brief business meeting followed by a social meeting for all to enjoy. These business meetings are necessary for the lodges to keep Sons of Norway updated with lodge information and the required IRS forms This is a good time to remind ourselves of the oath we all took when we joined the order of Sons of Norway; (Copied from the order of ceremonies section in the Sons of Norway “Guide for Leadership”) We hope you will be honest and fair with all people and endeavor not to judge the errors and shortcomings of others. We require that you never introduce any matter of a political or religious nature into the lodge. We expect that your influence and activities will be with us and for us and that you will, to the best of your ability, attend our meetings and activities so that our association both here and elsewhere may be of mutual benefit and pleasure. We are pleased that you have accepted these obligations. From now on, your own interests and the progress and the welfare of our Order are closely related. We expect that you will be sociable and tolerant in your conduct, not easily offended, and always willing to forgive. The fellowship you experience within this Order will go with you through life, and may it guide you to a better understanding of your fellow men. Hold Sons of Norway’s standards high and let us all by our association and conduct show the right understanding of the principles of our Society. Let us all remember this pledge as we support new officers that take on the challenge of leadership! Alt for denne gangen Gail Ask & Advertise ---------- Mentor and Mingle 1 Vice President, Mary Andersen, VP Voice You run a great program and don't get the attendance you hoped for. We have all been there; scratched our heads and asked ourselves - Why didn't people show up? What can we do differently? What should we do? A recent blog introduces the How Might We concept as an approach to innovation. The blog notes that words like "can" and "should" involves judgment and could result in "can't" and "shouldn't" in the answer. The author notes that using the word "how" implies that there are solutions and the word "might" enables people to make suggestions that might or might not work and the "we" means that we are going to do this together. Think about this question - How might we improve attendance at our monthly meetings? call people advertise utilize social media Let's explore each idea a little: What prevents us from calling people? - Well, it's a lot of phone calls for one person. Let's institute or reinstitute our telephone chain. Let's all ask the same questions and determine if a theme develops, e.g., members don't like to drive at night. If we know the problem, we can find a solution. Don’t like to drive? We can arrange car pools. How would we advertise? Where would we advertise? How much will it cost us? There are quite a few community newspapers that provide free advertising for groups such as ours. The key is determining the paper's deadline and submitting your announcement on time. There is always the old fashioned "flyer" strategically placed at grocery stores, etc. Do we take advantage of social media? You can post your event on the 3D website. See if neighboring lodges have a facebook page and post your event. Don’t forget to post on the Sons of Norway website! Consider distributing index cards at your next meeting with the question "How might we improve meeting attendance" written across the top. You might get a couple of good ideas. All you need is one idea that works. Keep asking the question of yourself and your fellow lodge members. Don't be hesitant to reinstitute something that worked in the past or try something totally new. If you do try the index card idea, please share the results! Have a happy, healthy and safe Thanksgiving! All the best, Mary 2 Counselor’s Corner by A. Kris Rasmussen The Charitable Trust – Taking Care of Our Own The leaves are falling, the smell of burning wood is in the air and there is a nip in the air in the mornings! Snowbirds are on the way south. All are seasonal reminders of the end of the year and of an opportunity for lodges and individuals. What opportunity? The opportunity to help your fellow brothers and sisters in the Third District of the Sons of Norway and at the same time help yourself by reducing your tax liability with the tax man. All contributions to the Third District’s Charitable Trust, which is a 501 c (3) fund, are fully tax deductible on both federal and state returns. Don’t wait for the new year to donate. Contribute now and I will provide you with a written receipt for tax purposes. Lodges also have the same opportunity as do individuals. If your lodge has a donation committee, as many do, this is the time of the year when you consider who your lodge will help this year in terms of financial donations. Please remember the Charitable Trust in your discussions. The “Terrific Third” is the only district in the Sons of Norway that has such a fund to take care of its own members in time of need. The Charitable Trust needs your continued support especially in these economic hard times; if you can, would you please make a donation to the Charitable Trust. Your contributions should be sent to the Charitable Trust’s Financial Administrator, Rannveig Klinge, 55 Laurel Avenue, Hamburg, PA 19526‐8721. Please support the Charitable Trust! CULTURE by Kathy Dollymore, Cultural Director This month we will be talking about "Nålbinding. (also spelled nålbinding, naalbinding, nalebinding). During the Viking-age (793-1066 AD) knitting and crochet were unknown to the good folks in Scandinavia, so they used another very effective and very old method for making these necessary garments: nalbinding.This is a textile technique that uses a single, eyed, needle to create fabric by sewing non-continuous lengths of thread in a fashion that in its most basic form is a series of buttonhole stitches and in more complex forms are threaded together. In Nålbinding, the thread is not pulled tight against itself forming a hard knot, but the stitches are tensioned, often around a thumb or needle, leaving a meshwork of interlocking loops of thread. Except in those forms that look like crossed knitting, it does not unravel like knitting or crochet as the thread is drawn entirely through each stitch. The resulting fabric is generally built spiraling up row by row and can be very elastic or quite stiff depending on the variation and material used. Nålbinding can be used to make a number of different items. Most often used for mittens, socks, hats, milk strainers, and bags, it can, however, be used to make many different objects. Unfortunately many archaeological nålbinding finds are just fragments so their original use is often obscured if not unknown." Nalbinding predates both knitting and crochet by at least 2000 years. Ancient samples have historically been misidentified as knitting by archaeologists and hopeful textile historians. Fragments of fabric with the appearance of knitting, excavated from third century AD Dura-Europos, in the Middle East, turn out to be nalbinding. Additional samples of toed anklet socks from fifth and sixth century AD Egypt are also examples of nalbinding, previously misidentified as knitting. Nalbinding as a practical needle craft survived longest in Scandinavia before it was supplanted by easier to produce knitting. Nalbinding was regarded as a superior craft because it required more skill to produce and the fabric created was thicker and warmer. Nalbinding is worked with a single, blunt needle (also called a nal or naal) that can be made out of numerous materials ranging from antler to wood to even plastic and acrylic. The needle can range in size from just a couple of inches long to over 6 inches in length depending on the preference of the person using it. In Anglo-Saxon manuscript illustrations both sexes either wear ankle-height shoes which would hide socks of the Coppergate style or else they go barefoot. However, Scandinavian King Cnut (in BL Stowe MS 944 of A.D. 1020-30) appears to be wearing closer fitting hose or knee length socks, with a decorative band just below the knee. For more information on Nålebinding http://viking-history.wetpaint.com/page/N%C3%A5lbinding http://www.dilettante.info/nalbindingmain.htm 3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naalebinding Karin Gudbrandson McCadam, Youth Director Third District Youth News It is an honor for me to begin my term as Third District Youth Director, yet humbling to follow in the footsteps of Evelyn Karpack, along with other Youth Directors, who served so selflessly in this position.