{"id":1803,"date":"2025-10-02T21:13:44","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T21:13:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sjalfsbjorg.is\/?page_id=1803"},"modified":"2026-05-12T13:32:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T13:32:36","slug":"sjalfsbjorg-a-akureyri-sagan","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sjalfsbjorg.is\/en\/um-okkur\/adildarfelogin\/sjalfsbjorg-a-akureyri-sagan\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-Help in Akureyri \u2013 The Story"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sj\u00e1lfsbj\u00f6rg, the association for the disabled in Akureyri, was founded on October 8, 1958, and was named Sj\u00e1lfsbj\u00f6rg \u2013 the association for the disabled in Akureyri and the surrounding area. About one hundred people were considered founding members, but they were those who registered for the association before the end of the year. Between fifty and sixty people attended the founding meeting. The number of members grew quickly, and by late 1959, there were about 140-150 members. The first chairman of the association was Emil Andersen. Hei\u00f0r\u00fan Steingr\u00edmsd\u00f3ttir was a long-time chairman of the association during its early years.<\/p>

The society held a badge sale and, like other societies, contributed half of the profits to the national federation's building fund. There were also coffee sales, movie screenings, and dances. Crafts and work nights were held weekly and were very popular. Educational and social meetings were also held.<\/p>

During the first year of operation, consideration was given to a building for the work and social center's activities. The City of Akureyri provided them with a plot of land at Hvannavellir during that first year, and construction on a custom-designed building for the association began in 1959. In the first phase, a hall was built along with a kitchen, an office, and restrooms, which was sufficient for meetings, craft nights, and similar activities. The building was named Bjarg. Next to this space, a good workshop was then built, and its construction was completed in two years. It took longer to put the workshop into operation, mainly because a suitable industry for the members was being sought. The result was to set up a factory that produced various types of plastic parts. In the fall of 1967, a factory manager, Gunnar Helgason, was hired. He studied similar operations abroad and brought machinery home with him for the factory, establishing the Bjarg Plastics factory. The main product was junction boxes for electrical wiring.<\/p>

Bjarg's Rehabilitation Center was established in 1970, and physical therapist Magn\u00fas \u00d3lafsson was hired for the facility. A year later, the workshop also began producing fish boxes.<\/p>

In the Sj\u00e1lfsbj\u00f6rg magazine, you can read about the support provided for this worthy initiative in rehabilitation matters:<\/p>

,Following the rehabilitation act, I am pleased to mention that Sj\u00e1lfsbj\u00f6rg in Akureyri is now working on establishing a rehabilitation center, and that preparation is well underway. The Kiwanis Club of Kaldbakur will support the association with equipment purchases, and a physical therapist has been hired. This is the first association within the national federation to establish such a center, but undoubtedly others will soon follow, as the need is urgent."\u201d<\/p>

In 1972, plans were made for a new Self-Help building in Akureyri, an expanded and renovated rehabilitation center on the organization's property in the Lundahverfi neighborhood. The first groundbreaking took place on August 21, 1976. On March 1, 1981, the basement of the building was largely complete, and the Plasti\u00f0jan Bjarg moved in, where 18-20 people were working at the time. Additional work was obtained when the assembly of electrical clamps was added to the production. The association's office also moved into the new facility. The rehabilitation department moved from the old building in the fall of the same year. Later, a gym and a swimming pool were added to the facility, and Bjarg has had a robust rehabilitation operation ever since.\u00a0 The new gymnasium was opened in 1988 on the association's 30th anniversary. The master builder of both buildings was J\u00f3n G\u00edslason. In 1997, two club rooms were opened in the basement of Bjarg.<\/p>

In 1992-1993, public entities, the state and the City of Akureyri, public entities, the state and the City of Akureyri, took over part of the premises and industrial operations of Bjarg from Sj\u00e1lfsbj\u00f6rg in Akureyri, and in 2001, the Bjarg Fitness Center leased the premises from the association and took over the operation of the fitness center. The physical therapy remained under the management of Sj\u00e1lfsbj\u00f6rg in Akureyri, and the association received its first independent contract with the National Insurance Institution for physical therapy in 2002. Two years later, the gym was sold to Bjarg Fitness Ltd., but an occupational therapist was hired at Bjarg under a contract with the National Insurance Institution. In 2007, the association undertook significant renovations to the occupational therapy facility. Now, senior citizens have a facility in the basement of the building, provided by the Municipality of Akureyri.<\/p>

The chairperson of Sj\u00e1lfsbj\u00f6rg in Akureyri during Sj\u00e1lfsbj\u00f6rg LSH's 50th anniversary year (2009) and also during the association's 60th anniversary (2018) is Herd\u00eds Ingvad\u00f3ttir.<\/p><\/div>

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Photo: Departing from Akureyri on a campaign and appeal trip for four Self-Help Societies in 1989. The then-chairman, J\u00f3hann P\u00e9tur Sveinsson, begins the journey.<\/span><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sj\u00e1lfsbj\u00f6rg, f\u00e9lag fatla\u00f0ra \u00e1 Akureyri var stofna\u00f0 \u00feann 8. okt\u00f3ber 1958 og hlaut nafni\u00f0 Sj\u00e1lfsbj\u00f6rg \u2013 f\u00e9lag fatla\u00f0ra \u00e1 Akureyri og n\u00e1grenni. Um hundra\u00f0 manns t\u00f6ldust stofnf\u00e9lagar en \u00fea\u00f0 voru \u00feeir sem skr\u00e1\u00f0u sig \u00ed f\u00e9lagi\u00f0 fyrir \u00e1ram\u00f3t. Milli fimmt\u00edu og sext\u00edu manns s\u00f3ttu stofnfundinn. Flj\u00f3tlega fj\u00f6lga\u00f0i \u00ed f\u00e9laginu og voru f\u00e9lagar or\u00f0nir um 140-150 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":768,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_theme","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1803","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sjalfsbjorg.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sjalfsbjorg.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sjalfsbjorg.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sjalfsbjorg.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sjalfsbjorg.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1803"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sjalfsbjorg.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14064,"href":"https:\/\/sjalfsbjorg.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1803\/revisions\/14064"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sjalfsbjorg.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sjalfsbjorg.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1803"}],"curies":[{"name":"word per minute","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}