For thirty-nine years now the names of some of the most hard working, dedicated, and engaged Eagle Grove citizens have been engraved upon a progressive plaque which is kept at the Eagle Grove Historical Society in the old Memorial Library Building, a Carnegie Library. They are the winners of the Allbaugh Award, which is given annually to the person chosen as most deserving for their selfless work on behalf of the community. Winners are selected because they’ve brought their personal time, talents, efforts, and resources to bear on service to the community, whether that be seeing to the welfare of the community’s residents, or protecting our local history.
The first names on that plaque were Dr. Orin and Marge Emerson. But of course before even them, were the Allbaughs themselves. Roy and Cornelia Allbaugh, longtime residents of Eagle Grove and pillars of the local community. Their children Kenneth Allbaugh and his sister Janet Allbaugh Knorr created the award in honor of their parents’ service to the community, with a $10,000 initial endowment, forty years ago in 1984.
2023’s award winner is Nancy Strub, whose tireless work on behalf of the Eagle Grove Area Ministerial Association, and whose work to keep the hungry fed with Eagle Grove’s two food pantries, as well as her vigilance over city governance and regular attendance of city council meetings to bless the proceedings with prayer, has earned her the honor. Which was awarded to her by Kurt Knudsen of Our Foundation for the Future, which administers the award, at the Annual Banquet of the Community Development Corporation and the Chamber of Commerce Monday night.
In addition to having her name engraved on the plaque to immortalize her good works for posterity, Strub received a plaque of her own, and a $500 gift will be made to the charity of her choice in her name, and has chosen the Eagle Grove Area Ministerial Association (aka EGAME) to receive the donation.
Accepting the award in the room full of local leaders, Strub called for more work on behalf of the community. “We need volunteers,” Strub said, noting that she had been reading from the scripture of Matthew 25 that morning, which spoke of feeding the hungry and welcoming the traveler, and that volunteering for such duty was holy work.
Speaking to the Eagle later, Strub said she was “Amazed” and “Surprised” to have won the award. And that she felt honored. “It’s a really high class club, of the winners,” she acknowledged, “fine people who have won it in the past have spent time managing things for the community. That’s amazing!”
Strub then reiterated her call for more community volunteers. “We need the businesses, obviously, but what this community really needs are volunteers,” Strub opined. “Whatever your thing is, words, helping kids… there are volunteer hours for every hour of the day. And we need people to step up.”
And perhaps, out there reading this article, is someone who will take Strub’s words seriously and accept the challenge in them. Someone who, just maybe, will one day have their name engraved on the plaque kept by the Eagle Grove Historical Society.
