The Icelandic Canadian - 01.04.2009, Qupperneq 31

Vol. 62 #2
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
73
As Bernese Lewis spoke for many of the
volunteer bakers “I may not be able to
pound a hammer but I can sure bake cook-
ies”.
For the past seven years, a golf tourna-
ment has been sponsored by the Society to
support the Fensala Flail and, on its com-
pletion, the foundation for the church. This
event raises money but also generates a
sense of ownership within a larger commu-
nity towards the project. People who may
not be able to volunteer are willing to
throw in a few dollars on mulligans or for
draws for donated custom golf clubs to
support the goals of the project. Over the
years, the golf tournament has raised an
estimated $20,000.00 for these projects. It
was all for a good cause—and a good time
was had by all.
During the war years, a theatre troupe
from Markerville would perform a play in
the neighbouring communities to raise
money to support the ‘boys’ overseas. This
tradition was continued in 1999 and 2002
when plays were written and performed to
raise funds for Fensala Hall.
1999 was the Centennial of the
Markerville Creamery and was a good
cause for celebration and another home-
coming. ‘Andy Fergussen s Birthday Party’
celebrated the history of the creamery
through song and story, was written and
acted by local volunteers and performed as
open air theatre for three evenings to a
packed house. It was also commissioned by
the Alberta Museum Association to be per-
formed at their annual convention as din-
ner theatre and received a standing ovation.
Once again, exposure and awareness to the
Markerville scene.
The success of that play inspired the
idea for a second play. This play—A Quilt
of Many Cultures—was a joint project of
the Markerville Creamery, the Dickson
Store Museum and the Danish/Canadian
National Museum. The play honoured the
immigrants and pioneers of western
Canada and again, using local volunteer tal-
ent, the show was performed a number of
times during the summer of 2002. A com-
ment from one of the attendees who, after
the performance, came with tears in her
eyes and said “I have never been so proud
to have come from Markerville.” A culmi-
nation of its success was receiving a joint
award from Museums Alberta for commu-
nity programming.
Over the years, these fundraising
events have generated in excess of
$74,000.00 in pure profit—and when used
as a match with government grants, often
doubles in value. It is important to realize
that all the volunteers who participated in
these events feel a sense of connection and
ownership in the project—and they had
fun doing it.
There are also more common methods
of fundraising and the Stephansson society
makes very good use of these. Such things
as bingos and casinos can provide a good
profit with some amount of volunteer
effort. Fensala Hall is supported with
events ranging from gala affairs to monthly
themed potluck suppers complete with
entertainment. A Christmas Eve service at
the church is filled to capacity and while it
may not raise a large amount of dollars, it
adds to the value in the eyes of the commu-
nity.
A constant theme that runs through
everything the Stephansson Society does is
volunteers. From those who have the orig-
inal vision to the people who bake cookies
for the cookie walk to the hammer and nail
guys, the whole thing falls apart if there are
not enough committed volunteers to see
the job through. And, when doing a major
restoration, it is vitally important to keep a
record of all the folks who contributed
labour to the project as this is often taken
into consideration when accounting for
various grants. Once the project is finished,
it is necessary to manage it effectively.
Management involves a strong executive
committee of dedicated people who create
an accurate budget and business plan.
Eventually, resounding success required
some of this responsibility be transferred to
a professional manager.
There is always a niggling fear that
these projects are not sustainable in the
long run. There is knowledge that, as
Stephansson feared so many years ago, the
Icelandic heritage is fading. Perhaps we will
leave the last word on this to our old
friends, Andy and Nels.