STUDENTS PUT MUSCLE INTO SALE

The annual Ladies’ Auxiliary Rummage Sale — held Sept. 16–19, at the Washington County Fairgrounds — can only be described as huge. Thousands of people from all over the United States come to the fundraiser for Memorial Community Hospital in Blair to sort through hundreds of thousands of used and like-new items.

The only problem? All the stuff for sale is stored in a warehouse in Blair, Neb., while the sale takes place 16 miles down the road in Arlington, Neb. That’s where Dana College’s student athletes come in. Once again this year, they provided the muscle needed to load the boxes onto cattle trailers and trucks in Blair and then unload them in Arlington.

“It’s indescribable — how many boxes there are, I can’t even guess,” said Sharon Gordon, a rummage sale volunteer who coordinates student help with Dana. “They bring a lot of pep. We have two-wheel carts to move the boxes, but they form assembly lines handing the boxes from one to the other.”

This year, around 200 members of the Dana football, men’s basketball, men’s soccer and wrestling teams helped move about 10,000 boxes and clean up the fairgrounds. According to Ted Murray, assistant football coach and admissions counselor, the teams were more than happy to help out with this important event for Washington County.

“We feel like we’re lucky to be an integral part of the sale,” Murray said. “It’s a form of community service for us to give back to the community.”

The Dana student athletes are just a few of the many volunteers who make the sale happen, said Kathy Jensen, volunteer coordinator for MCH. But having a couple hundred strong young men certainly speeds up the process.

“We are very grateful to the student athletes from Dana who help us each year in setting up for the Rummage Sale,” Jensen said. “I don’t think people realize the tremendous amount of donations that the Auxiliary receives and the time it takes to transport it to the fair grounds. Without Dana’s help, unloading would be a very difficult task, and we certainly wouldn’t be able to transport the items in just one day.”

Dana College President Myrvin Christopherson ’61 said these opportunities are what define Dana’s character as a school for active participation.

“Dana is an NAIA Champions of Character school,” Christopherson said. “Servant leadership is a core value in which Dana athletics is a participant. We believe that sharing our gifts in service to others helps one develop character to the fullest. This is just one of many volunteer efforts of Dana student athletes, but an important one.”