June 13, 2016 Meeting Minutes

June 13, 2016

Members Present: Amy A, Allan J, Dane J, Loraine L, Keri B, Kristine G, (Chelsea B joined us later)


Our meeting started with a trip to the Negaunee Cemetery to visit the grave site and memorial for Christine Hemmingsen, our organization's founder. Our visit was brief as the mosquitoes were quite ferocious! However, we did notice that the stone needs to cleaned. Allan volunteered to attempt to clean it with a power washer. If this is not successful, we will ask for it to be professionally cleaned.

After the visit to the memorial, we continued our meeting at Keri's house. We had a number of business issues to discuss and a wonderful dinner! (Pasties, veggie try, coleslaw, raspberry layered dessert and Turkish Delight candy!)

1). Cheryl F recently resigned as treasurer. After a bit of discussion it was decided that both the treasurer and the president will be placed on the bank account. Kris volunteered to be our treasurer and she was unanimously approved as the new treasurer. President-Allan, and newly elected Treasurer-Kris will be in touch with Cheryl in order to be added to the account and obtain the financial records.

2). Amy made some fliers to post up around town with small Danish hearts to help get the word out about our organization and to assist in recruiting new members. There was some discussion in regard to the message from our national president(in the June newsletter) about the possibility of having male members being referred to as brothers (rather than mister sisters) in our organization and the potential to either join with us, or to form a Viking Lodge. (Many of us have males in our families or have male friends of Danish Heritage that may be interested in this) Members took copies of the fliers to post in various locations, and a few thoughts were shared in regard to potential new members.

3). The June Edition of the Danish Sisterhood Newsletter is now available online in full color! There is a page and a half about the work Allan has been doing on the blog with the translation of the Hemmingsen Diary. We spent some time discussing some of the entries Allan had translated and talked a bit about some of the events that were described. (The newsletter will still be mailed, the online version is just a bonus!)

4). We also discussed some of the ideas Amy and Allan have been sharing with Karin from the National Board. Some of which include a resource pack for marketing and promotion and a podcast.

5). Our Facebook Page is growing! We have had many more likes and folks coming to see and share our posts! Amy and Allan have been trying to keep the page busy with things like links to the translated pages on the blog, photos from their various trips to Denmark, Small Translations, videos,and recipes! If you have anything you would like to see or share on the page, please do not hesitate to contribute or to pass it along to be posted!

6). We discussed the option of joining a district.  We talked about our options to join the Michigan-Ontario-Ohio District or to look at the district connected with Wisconsin. The members who spent time at the MOO District convention shared their experiences, and we talked about the benefits of being part of a district. Members were in agreement that we feel that joining the MOO District would be advantageous as we are a part of Michigan and many of our members live downstate. The convention and members from the other lodges were wonderful to connect with, and we feel having that closer connection to other lodges is important. We decided to join the district, but with the start of the new year as we did not want to try to collect dues mid year, and will request membership beginning with the new year. District Dues of $2/person will be added to the cost of next year's dues.

7) We were sad to hear of the resignation of some of our members. 4 members have decided to no longer participate for various personal reasons. Loraine noted that we may need to have their resignation in writing for the national board, and Kris/Allan will look into the details that need to be followed in order to process those requests.

Our members at the grate site and Memorial for Christine Hemmingsen

Our next meeting will be held at 6:30 pm on Monday, July 11th at Sol Azteca in Marquette. 

Respectfully Submitted, Amy A- Secretary.