About Icelandic Hekla Club
On January 30, 1925, seventeen Icelandic women living in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area met at the home of Mrs. Swen Magnus and as charter members started a social club. They were seeking to:
Promote fellowship among the members.
Provide means of reaching those of their nationality within the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) and surrounding area.
Help and cheer the sick, aged and needy of Icelandic origin.
Inform its members and others about their cultural heritage.
Over the past ninety plus years, the Hekla Club has held monthly meetings, September through May, offered a forum for members to meet and catch-up with each other. Icelandic-themed programs frequently accompany the formal meetings.
The Icelandic Hekla Club has assisted Icelandic families and the community. Family-based support was common in the early years of the Club. The club members offered food, clothing, money and home repair and remodeling on various occasions to families in need.
The Icelandic Hekla Club has reached out to the Icelandic community through donations to clubs, events, and organizations such as nursing homes in Gimli Manitoba and Mountain North Dakota, the Lögberg-Heimskringla, the Icelandic National League of North America, and the Icelandic Festival (Íslendingadagurinn) in Gimli, Manitoba. The Club has also supported numerous causes in Iceland, including the 1974 volcano eruption relief in the Vestmann Islands (Vestmannæyjar), the Emigration Centers in Hofsós (Vesturfarasetrið) and Vopnafjörður (Vesturfaramiðstöð Austurlands), and schools in Reykjavík and Skálholt.
In recent times, efforts have been more community- and education-based, as the Club supports the Val Bjornson Icelandic Exchange Scholarship at the University of Minnesota, Vigdís Centre for Multiculturalism at Háskóli Íslands, scholarships for Icelanders at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, the Icelandic Chair at the University of Manitoba, the Big Store preservation now the Minneota Public Library, Minnesota, Pembina County Museum and Pioneer Machinery Museum Icelandic Book Collection in Cavalier, North Dakota, and the Icelandic Language Camp in Gimli, Manitoba to name a few.
The Icelandic Hekla Club is affiliated with the Icelandic National League of North America (INLNA), based in Manitoba, Canada and The Icelandic National League of North American (INLUS), based in North Dakota, USA. Membership is open to anyone regardless of gender or ethnic origins.