{"id":11473,"date":"2021-08-20T16:53:08","date_gmt":"2021-08-20T16:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/?p=11473"},"modified":"2021-08-20T17:29:19","modified_gmt":"2021-08-20T17:29:19","slug":"augsburg-associates-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/2021\/08\/20\/augsburg-associates-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Scandinavian work ethic that inspired the Augsburg Associates\u2019 decades of service"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Community volunteerism is so much a part of the fabric of Norwegian life that they have a special name for it: dugnad. Pronounced doog-nahd, it\u2019s the tradition of neighbors gathering for all kinds of communal pursuits\u2014planting and tending to a community garden, spending time chatting with elders at a senior center, or painting a school building. Dugnads are something everyone not only plans for, but looks forward to.<\/p>\n

Since the mid-1980s, Augsburg University has been home to a team of women who drew on their Norwegian or broader Scandinavian heritage to create their own dugnad. The group became known as the Augsburg Associates and helped to raise significant funds for their community.<\/p>\n

Now, after 37 productive years of service, the Augsburg Associates are disbanding. But their legacy will live on for decades to come.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

The sounds of service<\/h3>\n

\u201cThe intent, when it started, was to help out on campus where they needed help,\u201d said Eunice Dietrich \u201965<\/strong>. \u201cThe original Associates were spouses of faculty members and other women who had an ear to what was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dietrich, a former Associates board chair who earned a degree in home economics at Augsburg, said assistance was needed across all facets of campus life. From stuffing envelopes for alumni and donor mailings to setting up a \u201cnice meeting space\u201d for the university\u2019s Board of Regents when they gathered, the Associates saw needs and then filled those voids.<\/p>\n

But it didn\u2019t take long for the work to morph from occasional events to addressing a situation requiring a sound solution.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Associates came out of the Lutheran tradition of \u2018We\u2019ll do anything for service,\u2019\u201d said Jerelyn Cobb \u201963<\/strong>. So in the 1980s, when an idea began to circulate about bringing an organ to campus, the Associates orchestrated a plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn those days, people still didn\u2019t have a lot of money, but they could give us donations of goods,\u201d Cobb said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how Trash and Treasure Sales began. Dishes, linens, and other household items were packed into boxes and readied for sale. Sporting goods and games were brought in. And furs, jewelry, and even gowns from the Dayton\u2019s department store\u2019s prestigious Oval Room were cleaned, pressed, and readied for a chance at a new life.<\/p>\n

The items were enough to fill a semitrailer, then eventually two.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery Wednesday night, I\u2019d have people come over, and we\u2019d sort everything,\u201d Cobb said. \u201cAll the dishes in one box, all the clothes in another, the sporting goods in another corner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then when the date of the sale neared, items were transferred from the trucks to the site of the sale.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe football team would come, and for two blocks we would line up next to each other and pass boxes into the gymnasium.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first sale raised $600, Cobb recalled. The next year: $4,000. Then $10,000, $15,000, and $28,000.<\/p>\n

When everything was done and counted, the Trash and Treasure Sales netted a quarter of a million dollars. And Augsburg got its organ.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”11637″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_column_text](Archive photo)<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Projects funded or supported by Augsburg Associates<\/strong><\/p>\n