{"id":203,"date":"2012-10-05T13:37:15","date_gmt":"2012-10-05T18:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/inside.augsburg.edu\/news\/?p=203"},"modified":"2012-10-05T13:37:15","modified_gmt":"2012-10-05T18:37:15","slug":"chapelchair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/news\/2012\/10\/05\/chapelchair\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapel chair upholstery project woven into local economy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tonya<\/a>
Tonya DuRoche lives in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, employs local workers, and sources nearly all her materials from local vendors.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At first glance, the choice to refurbish the chairs in Hoversten Chapel is just good financial management. The move to refresh versus replace the chairs saved the College more than $40,000.<\/p>\n

But that’s only the surface of the decision.<\/p>\n

What really went on gets to the heart of what it means to be a good steward. It makes exceptional what could be written off as a one-dimensional, mundane decision. It is a concrete example of how the College can live out its mission to be an engaged member of the community, a thoughtful steward, and a responsible leader.<\/p>\n

When the College this past summer opted to refurbish the 17-year-old chairs, staff requested a bid from All About Upholstery, a locally owned business.<\/p>\n

“We had worked with Tonya, the owner, on a smaller project in the old coffee shop, and she was great,” said Matt Rumpza, director of purchasing and central support services. “By making the decision to re-upholster the chairs, we were making an environmentally friendly and cost-sensitive decision. We felt that given our mission, our interest in being a good community neighbor, and our desire to be environmentally mindful, this was a no-brainer.”<\/p>\n

DuRoche lives, works in Cedar-Riverside neighborhood<\/h3>\n

Tonya DuRoche, who lives in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, worked with her team to refresh 597 chairs. The job included new upholstery, replacing the seat and back cushions, regluing joints, and touch-up varnishing. It was rewarding work, too.<\/p>\n

“It might sound cheesy,” she said, “but contributing to the comfort of students who are studying and those who are practicing their spirituality in the chapel is a way to contribute to the future.”<\/p>\n

DuRoche, who is committed to her community and other local businesses, sources nearly all of her fabrics from a family-owned company in Minneapolis. That means the money spent by Augsburg to have All About Upholstery do the work had a multiplier effect in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. Studies show that money spent locally stays in a community longer than money spent at companies with headquarters outside of that community, state, or region.<\/p>\n

Money spent locally has greater impact on community, state<\/h3>\n

In fact, the 2004 Andersonville Study of Retail Economics found that $100 spent in locally owned independent stores returns $68 to the community through taxes, payroll, and other expenditures. Money spent at a national chain only returns $43 to the community.<\/p>\n

DuRoche also hires and trains local employees. She completes a mix of residential and large-scale commercial work for tribal businesses such as casinos and helps stabilize other local businesses by providing suppliers with a fairly steady stream of business. In turn, her suppliers are able to provide a stable income for their employees. This interconnected way of doing business is important to her.<\/p>\n

“It’s a way to be an entrepreneurial role model, to give back to our community,” said DuRoche, a member of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska. “I’ve always wanted to be an artist or work in the medical field. This gives me the chance to offer a kind of healing by creating beauty in surroundings.”<\/p>\n

To learn more about the work DuRoche does through All About Upholstery, visit her Facebook<\/a> page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At first glance, the choice to refurbish the chairs in Hoversten Chapel is just good financial management. The move to refresh versus replace the chairs saved the College more than $40,000. But that’s only the surface of the decision. What really went on gets to the heart of what it means to be a good …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[123,162,563,664,1310,2717],"class_list":["post-203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-all-about-upholstery","tag-anchor-institution","tag-chapel","tag-community","tag-hoversten","tag-steward"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/147"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}