Speakers

We've got two presentations 5/22 - We will have Brittany Barnhart from Freedom Festival. We will also have Yui, who is our foreign exchange student present her presentation from this year. 

Join Brittany Barnhart, Executive Director of the Freedom Festival, and Emma Ridder, Marketing Assistant, as they share an inside look at this year’s exciting plans for the 42nd annual Freedom Festival!

Brittany and Emma will highlight the fresh changes coming to the festival, ways you can get involved, and why supporting this long-standing local nonprofit matters more than ever.

Brittany Barnhart
A lifelong resident of the Marion and Cedar Rapids area, Brittany is passionate about bringing the community together through meaningful experiences. As a mom, she’s especially driven to create events that not only entertain but also inspire families and future generations. She loves living close to her extended family and is proud to now lead one of the area’s most iconic summer traditions.

Emma Ridder
Emma was born and raised in Marion and now lives in Iowa City with her husband. She began her journey with the Freedom Festival as an intern and is now in her fourth year as the part-time Marketing Assistant. In addition to her work with the Festival, she co-owns Honor and Respect with her dad. Emma values quality time with her loved ones and is passionate about making an impact in the community she grew up in.

Lindsay Leahy is a proud wife, daughter, auntie,and friend. She is passionate about Jesus, hugs,dreams, adventures, and deep conversation. She is the creator of the blog Grit, Gratitude, and Grace and the founder and Dream Builder at The Restoration Project, a women-owned coaching and consulting practice that provides experiences, programs, and services to improve organizational health, team and leadership effectiveness and individual well-being. Lindsay is also the author of Take it All Apart - How to Live, Lead and Work with Intention.

Join us to celebrate as Sarah receives the gavel!!

Ron Rausch is the President and CEO of Wired Production Group, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Wired Production Group has 25 full-time staff members who produce live, virtual, and hybrid events and offer full-service video production, live streaming, and LED technology services across the United States. 

 

Over the past 30 years, Ron has experience producing, directing, and creating content for major entertainers, Fortune 500 companies, non-profits, conferences, and colleges and universities in nearly all 50 states and six countries. Some recent favorite projects include Iowa Irish Fest, Mississippi Valley Fair, Beyond the Game at the Field of Dreams, Iowa FFA Hybrid State Conference, Intelsat NEXT Conference, MedStar Research Symposium, University of California at Davis Virtual Campaign Launch, Utah State University Campaign Launch, and Collins Aerospace Engineer of the Year. Outside of his 25 "kids" at the office, Ron and his wife, Molly, have seven children and reside in Swisher, Iowa.

Get the inside scoop from Metro North Rotary Board Members—learn who's on the board, what they do, and what it really means to serve as a board member!

Emily Patel’s experience with infertility started when she was 25 years old and diagnosed with Premature Ovarian Failure. With the advances of science, she is now a mama, through donor egg IVF, to two precious little girls: Penelope and Everly.

Hopeful Mama was established to leave a personal legacy for her daughters by demonstrating the importance of helping women in similar circumstances who may be searching for answers and by embodying Hopeful Mama’s core values of advocacy, education, and respect. Emily’s desire is to provide opportunities for women who need assistance with financial resources, education, and awareness of all of the fertility options available today that can help fulfill their dreams for tomorrow, just as she was able to fulfill her dream.

Get the inside scoop from Metro North Rotary Board Members—learn who's on the board, what they do, and what it really means to serve as a board member! + Envelope Challenge Kick's Off! 

Clint Twedt-Ball is the Founder and Executive Director of Matthew 25. Clint’s background includes community organizing, asset-based community development and pastoral work in the United Methodist Church. Clint has a B.A. in psychology from the University of Iowa and a Masters of Divinity from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois.

 

Clint and his brother founded Matthew 25 in 2006. Since then, Matthew 25 has grown into an organization that grows strong neighborhoods in Cedar Rapids by investing in quality housing, healthy food, educational opportunities and community building. Matthew 25’s innovations include running an urban farm, Groundswell pay-it-forward Cafe, a tool library, grocery store, net zero housing and arts programming. Today, Matthew 25 has forty employees and has invested more than $15 million in Cedar Rapids core neighborhoods. 

 

Clint serves or has served on a variety of boards, including the Linn County Housing Trust Fund, Cedar Rapids Public Library, Neighborhood Finance Corporation Cedar Rapids Advisory Board, Bishop's Leadership Team of the Iowa United Methodist Church and his local church missions committee. Clint has been recognized by the Corridor Business Journal’s 40 under 40, CR Downtown Rotary’s Appreciation Award and the Bishop James Thomas Award.

 

Originally from Oklahoma City, Charity made Cedar 
Rapids, Iowa her home after graduating from Coe 
College.  
 
She has been Executive Director for the Cedar 
Rapids Public Library Foundation since 2015.  
 
In this role, Charity transitioned the Library 
Foundation from funding capital projects and book 
purchases to focus on funding innovative programs and services like Dolly 
Parton’s Imagination Library. She has grown community support through annual 
giving, advocacy, and planned giving. Today, Charity is leading the charge for the 
Inspiring Big Dreams Campaign to build a new Westside Library. 
 
Charity is the Financial Officer for United for Libraries, the division of the 
American Library Association (ALA) that supports Trustees, Foundations, and 
Friends of Libraries.  
 
She and her husband Chris live in Cedar Rapids with their children Callista, 
Samantha, and Jonathan and four-legged family members: Steve Tyler Cat and 
Kevin Tyler Dog.