The Vikings of Solvang

When pioneers settled in isolated corners of the land, they rallied together to help their neighbors, whether that meant raising a barn or tending the children of an ailing parent.
Founded by people who honored similar traditions, communities in the Santa Ynez Valley continue to benefit from this tried and true code of mutual aid. Serving Santa Barbara County since 1974, the Vikings of Solvang have dedicated themselves to helping their neighbors. Through donations, matching-fund campaigns and contributions from within their own ranks, they assist individuals, families and area health care organizations with medical bills and related expenses.
Over the last three decades, the Vikings have raised and allocated over 1.9 million dollars to provide everything from therapy and prosthetic devices to medications and medical debt relief.
Among a long list of good works, they recently gave the YMCA a much needed defibrillator, presented a local man with a wheelchair-accessible van, and raised $76,000 to help with the remodel project at the Santa Ynez Valley Recovery Residence.
“We look at each case and try to find solutions,” explains Bob Raleigh, spokesman for the Vikings. “We approach institutions to see if maybe they’ll take less for a cash payment, and we sometimes pick up insurance payments for people who are strapped because of illness or injury.”
Each year, the Vikings don their crested jackets and host a gala Christmas party for children with special needs, their parents and caregivers, as well as members and guests. Besides enjoying a rollicking good time, those with medical problems also receive specialized tools and vital health care equipment.
“It’s quite a nice party,” Raleigh smiles. “We have singers, Christmas music and the Village Band comes in to entertain. Everyone is served by the Vikings and we give out presents, something small. The bigger presents to help with their lives are sent to their homes or schools.”
The Vikings’ 200 members absorb all administrative expenses incurred by the non-profit organization, which means that 100% of the money raised or donated directly benefits those in need.
“We receive outside donations occasionally because of the work we do,” Raleigh says, “and we have an Endowment Fund that’s ongoing and forever. We don’t have unlimited resources, but we do use the dividends from it to do our work and for our matching funds.”
In December, the Vikings launched a fund drive to benefit Clayton Fitzgerald, a young man severely injured in a 2005 plane crash. With medical bills piling up to the $800,000 mark, and $55,000 worth of reconstructive surgery still to be done on his jaw, the members decided to help out by matching donations dollar for dollar.
“Our goal is to get Clayton’s jaw restored,” Raleigh says. “We’re working in several directions, working with a dentist to evaluate him and perform the surgery, and asking for contributions that we will match. So far, we’ve raised $10,000.”
The Vikings, whose members include lawyers, accountants, stock brokers and physicians, help families with medical challenges navigate the often confounding system of paperwork and bureaucratic artifice. More than just kind hearts and fund-raisers, however, they also act as patient advocates, monitoring insurers, negotiating charges, and sometimes even securing costly services pro bono.
Both a social and philanthropic organization, the Vikings were founded in the late 1940s in Los Angeles by a group of civic-minded drinking buddies who based their club credo on the desire to have fun and raise funds for disabled children, as well as those in need.
Since they spent much of their leisure time together at a Finnish sauna and a restaurant called Scandia, they felt “The Vikings” was a natural fit for a name.
In 1973, the Solvang Vikings were formed when then Danish Inn owner, Vince Evans, got together with Bob Gleason, Ray Paaske, and Clayton Sanchez and organized a local Vikings camp under the L.A. group’s charter and by-laws, as a non-profit organization dedicated to raising funds for children and charities.
They were followed in 1983 by the Orange County Vikings, who annually join with the L.A. group for an “invasion and bash” in Solvang.
“The Vikings in L.A. were helping with  many Los Angeles area charities,” remembers Raleigh, who was among those first 11 members. “We expanded that field so we could help with more local situations.
“Our first crank-up was in 1975,” he continues. “We did a project for the Sorensens, a musical family, and for Paul Kuelgen’s family. Now, in addition to Clayton, we’re working with a young boy who has leukemia and a fellow whose wife passed away leaving him deeply indebted.”
To help ease the medically related problems of those in need, the Vikings hold benefits as needed, complete with barbecues, drawings and fund-raising auctions. In between benefits, they carry on advocating for patients, matching funds and even digging into their own pockets in a bid to improve the lives of their neighbors.
“It’s a lot for us,” Raleigh admits. “We’re not the Red Cross. We’re just a bunch of local guys trying to help out as best we can.”