Lögberg-Heimskringla - 17.06.2005, Page 2

2 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday 17 June 2005
Securing the future of
Lögberg-Heimskringla
Steinþór Guðbjartsson
Winnipeg, MB
A fundraising campaign, the
Lögberg-Heimskringla Future
Fund, starts officially today, on
June 17, Jón Sigurðsson’s birth-
day and Iceland’s Independence
Day, with the goal to raise $1.5
million to secure the future of
the paper.
Almost a century ago, 6,000
people from Icelandic commu-
nities all over Canada and the
United States raised money for a
statue of Jón Sigurðsson, which
was erected in Austurvöllur,
Reykjavík to celebrate the cen-
tennial of the patriot-statesman’s
birth in 1911.
In the past, Icelanders and
people of Icelandic descent in
North America have made many
other generous contributions to
many important Icelandic-relat-
ed fundraising campaigns.
They helped in establishing
the Eimskip Steamship Com-
pany in Iceland in 1914 and laid
the foundation of the Eimskip
University Fund in 1964.
About a half a century ago,
the Chair of Icelandic Language
and Literature and the Icelandic
Department at the University of
Manitoba in Winnipeg were es-
tablished as a result of an orga-
nized fundraising effort within
the Icelandic community.
Another fundraising about
five years ago, Valuing Icelandic
Presence (VIP), raised nearly
$2 million, which secured the
second teaching position at the
Department of Icelandic and
upgraded the premises of the
Library’s Icelandic Collection at
the University of Manitoba.
Three main objectives
Dr. Ken Thorlakson, who
served as Chair of the VIP Mil-
lennium Campaign, chairs the
Future Fund Capital Campaign
Cabinet seeking to raise $1.5
million for the Lögberg-Heim-
skringla.
The campaign has three
main objectives, which can be
seen as relating to Lögberg-
Heimskringla’s past, present and
future.
Firstly, to preserve and
make available on the Intemet
the historical record contained
in its pages by having all issues
of the paper and those of its
predecesors, Heimskringla and
Lögberg, digitized. Recently,
Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir,
Iceland’s Minister of Education,
announced that the Govemment
of Iceland would provide the
funds and facilities for the digi-
tization to be done in Iceland.
Secondly, the objective is to
raise funds to invest in staff and
ICELAND'S
NATIONAL DAY
[—tm
TPiret Wuisupey euentsycru UiouUn’t nUx!
Hamrahlíðarkórinn
choir from Reykjavík
will be performing at 8:00 p.m.
WINNIPEG ART GALLERY
RICHARDSON AUDITORIUM
NOCHARGE
ALL ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND
OPEN HOUSE
Come and see the new office of
Lögberg-Heimskringla
Friday, June 17, 2005
2:30 - 4:30 p.m.
ALL ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND
100-283 PORTAGE AVENUE
THE JON SIGURDSON CHAPTER and the
ICELANDIC CANADIAN FRÓN
invite all to be present at the
Twenty-third Annual Wreath Laying Ceremony
in Celebration of
The Sixty - First Anniversay OF
Iceland’s Independence Day
At The Jon Sigurdsson Statue,
Manitoba Legislative Grounds
Friday, June 17, 2005 at 7:00 p.m.
GUEST SPEAKER
steingrímurj. sigfusson
member of parliament, iceland
PHOTO: STEINÞÓR GUÐBJARTSSON
Dr. Ken Thorlakson is chair of the fundraising campaign.
in the equipment and facilities
necessary for the staff to work
effectively and produce a high
quality, widely circulated paper.
Thirdly, the campaign looks
to securing financial stability
in the future by establishing an
permanent endowment fund.
Never too late
It is never too late to become
involved in the Icelandic com-
munity. “I did not become ac-
tively involved until 1999,” Ken
Thorlakson recalls, and credits
Neil Bardal for this. As a conse-
quence, he chaired the fundrais-
ing campaign for the Icelandic
Collection and the Icelandic
Department at the U of M. His
father, Dr. Paul H.T. Thorlakson
had chaired the fundraising com-
mittee for the establishment of
the Chair of Icelandic Language
and Literature at the University
in 1951 and was also instru-
mental in bringing Lögberg and
Heimskringla together in 1959.
Dr. Ken Thorlakson says: “I
am pleased to be involved with
Lögberg-Heimskringla at this
time in its long history and look
to the fundraising campaign
making a significant contribu-
tion toward achieving the objec-
tives that the Board has set for
the paper.”
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