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 Dear Fellow Members:
Traveling in Sons of Norway circles, it seems as if not a day goes by without some reference to the September 2009 Viking article “Is Our Future in Jeopardy?” A great deal has been said in favor of the article, and in disapproval. I would like to think that you have studied the Special Report which is only six pages in length, and discussed it with your fellow lodge members. Reading many district lodge newsletters, I sense that many of you have done just that; and are taking action to retain and recruit new members.
Looking at our current membership by age (the chart on page 10 of the Viking,) you can easily assume that it is a mirror image of many of our lodges in District 5. And quite frankly, being a member of the largest group, I don’t think that’s so bad! We seniors have the time to spend pursuing our heritage interests as well as to enjoy the fellowship sociability, and camaraderie gained from being with friends –both old and new. Yet we are painfully aware that if our lodge is like a church without a Sunday School filled with children, it too will be one generation away from extinction. Just what are we to do about this dilemma? The article’s Bottom Line is: “Recruiting and retaining younger members is critical to our organization’s future.” Easily said. Not easily done. To accomplish this, many of us will have to “reinvent” our lodges and ourselves. New ways, different faces, strange and diverse programs and activities are difficult to accept – or at least try. Change. “That’s the culprit, the sticking point – Change!” Looking in the mirror each day, we are aware of the changes life has in store for us –and many of us find it difficult to accept these changes. If your lodge’s future is in jeopardy, do you dare to make some changes? Looking again at the age distribution of our members, roughly half are over seventy. Increasingly, these members have special needs. They have difficulty driving at night, long distances, or at all. Some have physical weaknesses and are no longer able to clean up, serve dinners, or make and sell handicrafts and bake goods. In some cases, fixed or diminished incomes no longer provide the resources necessary to participate in all lodge activities. How many times have your hearts been touched as you have witnessed the needs of members in your lodge? How often have you intended to be the one to help? And yet how often has day-to-day living interfered and you’ve left it to others to help, feeling that “oh, surely someone will take care of that need.” The following poem may become one of
your favorites: I have wept in the night
For the shortness of sight
That to somebody’s need made me blind
But I never have yet Felt a tinge of regret For being a little too kind
(Portions of this paragraph are excerpts froma talk given by Thomas S. Monson on 10/04/09) You all are aware that our membership goal for Sons of Norway, for the period July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2010 is to achieve net membership growth. Instead of having at least 6,524 members, as of September 30, 2009, District 5 has 277 members less. We now have 60 active lodges, and if a substantial number of them make the retention and recruitment effort, the goal is easily attainable –even though we would be reversing a downward trend. Ask your Zone Director for help. At our forthcoming District Convention, three lodges will be rewarded with $400 checks for achieving the highest percentage of net growth in their size group for the period January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009. The size groups are as follows: Small: 65 or less members; Medium:66-99; and Large: 100 or more. 19 lodges are in the Small group, 20 lodges are in the Medium group, and 20 lodges are in the Large group (since our 60th lodge, Music City Vikings, has just been instituted, it is not included in this competition.) As of the end of September, it is still a wide open race for the $400 prizes! Fraternally,
Burton Bittner, District 5 Vice President
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