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Scandinavian American Foundation of Georgia - History
Mission Statement:
Founded in 1983, the Scandinavian American Foundation of Georgia supports, promotes, and encourages the interchange of educational, cultural, and amateur athletic activities between the State of Georgia and the countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden in order to further the mutual understanding, goodwill, and friendship of the peoples of Scandinavia and Georgia.
As a non-profit organization, the Foundation seeks to advance these goals through sponsoring programs in Amateur Athletics, Culinary Arts, Dance, Education, Film, Literature, Music, Theater and Visual Arts.
Another key role of the Foundation is to serve as facilitator for the several local organizations in Georgia having specific orientation to individual countries of Scandinavia.
Only through the generous contribution of time, talent, and financial support of its individual and corporate members can the Scandinavian American Foundation of Georgia fulfill this overall mission.
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Founders of Scandinavian American Foundation of Georgia:
SAFG was founded in 1983 by Berno Trost, then Consul of Sweden to Georgia; Dennis Carlson, Past Chairman of Nordic Lodge #708 of the Vasa Order of America; Phil Nethercut, then Honorary Consul of Finland to Georgia; and Margareta Martin, then President of the Atlanta Suomi Finland Society. They were soon thereafter joined by John Portman, then Consul of Denmark to Georgia and Maurice Horowitz, then Consul General of Iceland to the Southeast U.S.
They developed a newsletter - INSIGHTS - that was originally printed and mailed as a hard copy, but is evolving to a predominantly online publication.
From the start the Foundation has been actively engaged in things Scandinavian by sponsoring concerts, art exhibits, book readings, plays and dance groups. Scholarships have been provided, and for multiple years to share our Christmas heritage the Foundation decorated a Scandinavian tree at the Festival of Trees and organized a six-language church service. Other Christmas related activities have also been arranged to be shared with the Scandinavians and Georgians in the Atlanta area.
At a 1999 Scandinavian Weekend at Emory University and The Carter Presidential Center, the ambassadors of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden spoke about "The Scandinavian Contributions to World Peace". At a 2003 Scandinavian Weekend the press secretaries of these countries discussed "Environmental Policies in Scandinavia: Approaches To Sustainable Solutions."
The Foundation has assisted in hosting heads of state and heads of government including the Presidents of Iceland and Finland, the Queen of Norway, the King and Queen of Sweden and a prince and two princesses from Sweden.
The Foundation was also a co-founder of the Annual Scandinavian Festival in Atlanta, which had run 14 years in 2008.
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