Rough Risers Thank Peoples Clinic for their Support against COVID-19

Leigh Zeitz (Project Coordinator),
Augusta Sires (Peoples Community Relations Specialist)
and Jim Larson (Rough Risers President)

Monday, June 22, 2020 - Peoples Clinic, a non-profit health care clinic, has been helping people in Waterloo since 1976 but they really showed their commitment and dedication in their recent confrontation with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Cedar Falls Kiwanis Rough Risers club recognized the critical care that Peoples Clinic has been providing for the people of Waterloo and they wanted to show them their gratitude.  The club joined together to write Thank You notes for all of the Peoples Clinic team and raise the money to provide 140 HyVee $10 gift cards as well. On Monday, June 22, Jim Larson (Rough Risers President) and Leigh Zeitz (Project Coordinator) met with Augusta Sires (Peoples Community Relations Specialist) to present their gift for the employees.

Since March, the Clinic has administered over 1300 COVID tests and they have given as many as 45 tests in one day. This outpatient clinic has gone through many changes to attend to their patients' needs. The Urgent Care room was converted into a respiratory clinic to better serve patients and protect the rest of the clinic. The lobby has been redesigned to provide adequate social distancing. All patients and staff are required to wear face masks. They are now using Telehealth systems to meet with patients virtually.

Beyond providing health care services during an intense and challenging time, there have been many instances when their staff has assisted patients with personal needs. Due to COVID-19-related supply shortages and financial hardships, they have provided patients with personal care items, toilet paper, and food. They are also holding a clothing and a school supply drive right now in order to continue taking care of their patients in the most comprehensive way possible.

The Peoples Community Health Clinic is dedicated to "providing access to affordable, compassionate, high-quality health care for all."  Our Kiwanis club thanks Peoples Clinic and our support of them aligns with our mission of "Serving the Children of the World."
Written by Leigh Zeitz and Augusta Sires

This story was covered in the Waterloo Courier:

Nate Loenser Makes it to the Big Leagues

Wednesday, June 10 - "Doors will open when you work hard and treat people right."  These are the words of Nate Loenser who shared his life accomplishments with us today.  Nate is an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls but he began coaching basketball for the UNI Northern University High School in 2001. It's been a long road but he "never set a glass ceiling" for his accomplishments. He never took any day for granted.

Nate took us on his athletic journey as he played baseball, basketball, football, and golf in high school. Sounds like a typical high school athlete, but there was nothing typical about Nate because he was able to excel in these sports with a limb difference of having only one functioning arm.

Professionally, Nate followed his passion for basketball as a high school coach in Cedar Falls, Ames, and Spirit Lake. He coached basketball at the University of Southern Mississippi and Iowa State University.  In 2015, he became an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls - the team he had been rooting for all of his life. 

The most important part of Nate's presentation was when he shared his ideas about life and coaching. He has succeeded in life by never setting limits on himself nor the players he coaches. Nate views the foundation of successful coaching as building relationships with his players. He sees himself as a teacher who needs to help his players learn the "why" as much as the "what" of the game. Nate wants to make a difference in his players' lives.

Nate summed up his philosophy with a saying that guides his coaching:

     People will forget what you said.

     People will forget what you did.

     But People will never forget how you made them feel.

Nate made us feel hopeful and we look forward to watching him succeed and making a difference in players' lives.   Thank you, Nate.

Written by Leigh Zeitz

40-minute recording of Nate's Presentation

Rough Risers Inter-Club w/Nebraska Dobytown Kiwanis Club

Virtual Meetings can be GREAT!!!

Now that many Kiwanis meetings are virtual, the sky is the limit for who can attend them. We have been fortunate enough to have Steve and Jane Harding join us from Tennesee on a weekly basis since we turned Zoom. We can even visit other Kiwanis
clubs in other states -  if we have the hankerin'.

Kiwanis Interclub is a program to promote interconnection between clubs.  In the past, it has involved members of one club driving over to another club's meeting to see what they are doing and make new friends. Kiwanis International even awards clubs with special points towards recognition if they engage in these visitations.  The last interclub that I took was when we visited the Greater Waverly Club at 6:45 on a Tuesday morning.

Now that we are virtual, we don't have to drive to the other club's meeting place.  We aren't limited to clubs within our locale. We can even CROSS STATE LINES for an interclub - if we have the hankerin'.

Finding the Club
Well, we had the hankerin'.  I visited the NE-IA Kiwanis District website and reviewed their list of Clubs with Virtual Meetings to find a club to visit.  While I was there, I found the Dobytown Kiwanis Club in Kearney, Nebraska.  I visited their website and found that they were quite similar to our Rough Risers.  They have been around 42 years - we've been here 40. They cook pancakes as a fundraiser - we pop kettle corn. They provide backpacks filled with school supplies for kids - we've done that too. They raise and donate a substantial amount of money to support their youth - we do too. They look like a great group of Kiwanians, well . . . goes without saying.

So, I decided to contact Gordon Roethemeyer, their president, to see about setting up a date. What a treat. Turns out that Gordon is an educator - me too. Dobytown Kiwanis club is filled with educators - so are we. Gordon was excited about setting up this virtual visit so we proceeded with plans to make it a reality.

It's Time
On Tuesday morning, May 19 at 7:30 AM, 40 Kiwanians hit the Zoom waves to experience Dobytown's weekly club meeting. Twenty-six Nebraskeners were present while 14 of us from Cedar Falls made the scene. Gordon began their meeting with the pledge, prayer, and announcements. He welcomed the Rough Risers and we began introducing our clubs to one another.  Gordon provided the background story for their club and our prez, Jim Larson, shared our story.  Gordon and his band of Kiwanians shared information about their fundraisers and community service projects.  Tony Reid shared about our kettle corn sales and Sue Loy explained how one of our main sources of income comes from sponsorship by generous merchants in the Cedar Valley. I shared stories about our community service projects. When asked, Nick Teig shared the story of our newspaper bin days and how we set the world ablaze with that project It was a fascinating 45 minutes.

Interesting Revelations

• We purchased our kettle corn popper from a place in Nebraska and for a couple of years Nick Teig et al drove to Kearney to purchase bags of special popcorn kernels from a relative to one of the Dobytown members. 
• While they live in Kearney, Dobytown is a nearby ghost town and they took the name because of the town's interesting history.
• We "Feed the Pig" on a weekly basis. We have to pay $1 if it is we are celebrating our birthday, anniversary, were mentioned in the media, or want to share something that is happening in our life.  Dobytown "Stuffs the Bear" for basically the same reasons.

Video Recording of the hour-long meeting (thanks to Dobytown Kiwanis Club)

Where Do We Go from Here?

This was a wonderful visit. We found kindred spirits in Nebraska and would like to continue this connection. One member suggested that we become sister/brother/non-gender specific sibling clubs.  It was also suggested that we do this once every quarter (next time we invite Dobytown to visit us at 6:45 on a Wednesday). We might even find some projects that we can coordinate between us to support the kids throughout America.  Who knows? 

This was a wonderful experience. It was an opportunity that we would not have had if our clubs hadn't moved to virtual club meetings. We have made some new friends and we should continue this connection -
if we have the hankerin' . . . & WE DO!

Virtual Kiwanis Rough Risers are a BIG Success!!!

Cedar Falls Kiwanis Rough Risers online

WE DID IT!!!

Our Cedar Falls Kiwanis Rough Risers club held our first virtual club meeting this morning a 7:00.
This was an opportunity to meet with old friends and share what they have been doing over the past few weeks.

After the Zoom test drive that we took yesterday afternoon, our Kiwanians handled Zoom like experienced Zoomers.  President Jim Larson led the meeting - complete with Pledge of Allegiance and Prayer.  Leigh Zeitz managed the Zoom room at the beginning of the meeting.  He took the crew on a tour of Zoom's capabilities and they even dropped into breakout rooms for a few minutes to experience that small meeting capacity.

Steve and Jane

It was heartening to see that we had 22 members attend. We were pleasantly surprised to be visited by Steve and Jane Harding. 
Click here to watch the recording of our 7:00 Wednesday meeting.

The discussion ranged from Dean sharing video of 3" of snow in the Quad Cities to how people were dealing with 3 weeks of quarantine. Sounds like many of the undone odd jobs around the house have been completed.  People are spending more time with family both in-person and in periodic online sessions.

All-in-all, it was a positive experience and we decided that we would meet EVERY WEDNESDAY @ 7:00 AM. The cool part is that we will be able to continue with programs.  We just need to invite presenters who are comfortable with working in this virtual environment. The best part is that we won't be limited to the Cedar Valley.  We can invite speakers from anywhere in the world.

Have your Best Week Ever.  Remember that Social Distancing does necessarily mean Isolation.  Keep in touch with those who are important to you.

Originally, this article said that we will meet on Tuesdays. This is wrong.  WE MEET ON WEDNESDAYS

Pioneers in Virtual Kiwanis Rough Risers Meetings.

I just wanted to celebrate the brave souls who joined us for our trial Zoom meeting this afternoon. This is where we had a chance to see our friends again, but also an opportunity to try out the Zoom system so that things will run smoothly tomorrow at our 7:00 AM meeting.

You will notice that some of our members were broadcasting from unique locations.  Dan is in San Francisco.  Leigh is in the middle of a Van Gogh masterpiece.  Dean is in some swirly green place - don't know where.

Well, we will know where we will all be tomorrow morning - in Zoom.   

See you there!

Our February Programs involve Feeding, Voting, and Schooling

Wednesday, February 5 - Business Meeting
Our club members get together to discuss what's happening now and make plans for the future.  We talk about projects, kettlecorn, finances, marketing and a plethora of potential possibilities  

Wednesday, February 12 - The Cedar Falls Food Coop is Almost Here.  Tom Wickersham, Director of the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa
Tom Wickersham will talk about how the Cedar Falls Food Coop is nearing reality, considering locations, and choosing a new name.  Tom is President of the Coop Board; he is also Program Director of the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa.

Wednesday, February 19 - 100th Anniversary for Women's Right to Vote. Sasha Wohlpart, Cedar Falls School Board. 

The Cedar Valley has Big Plans to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. Sasha Wohlpart will talk about those plans and how we are looking forward to continuing the push for equal rights for women.  Sasha is also a member of the Cedar Falls School Board.  

Wednesday, February 26 - What Do You Know about School Boards? - Joyce Coil, Past President of Cedar Falls School Board. 

Joyce Coil has just stepped down after serving 25 years on the Cedar Falls School Board, four of those years as President of the Board.  She has an incredible record of serving her community.  Joyce will reflect on things she would like the public to know about school boards.  

Our Nebraska-Iowa Kiwanis District celebrated its Century Birthday on January 6 this year. We have plenty of reasons to celebrate. We have benefitted countless youth and community members.  

We have 175 individual clubs, divided into 6 Regions, made up of 24 divisions that encompass much of both states. There are approximately 5,400 Kiwanis members working toward the goal of "Serving the Children of the World."

We need to take time to heartily celebrate our past service and accomplishments, but there is still plenty to do in our communities.

Len Froyen Shares Gratitude

Wednesday, November 27, 2019 - One of the most interesting people in the locality, Len Froyen, authored a book entitled “Gratitude: Affirming One Another through Stories” which gave insight on the topic. Len said that everyone wants to write a good story and everyone is a story. Our relationships with others and being accepted by them as well, makes a great quality of life. We come in contact with many good people and we need to take time to pause and contemplate about what their voices say and the wisdom it brings. We should take some quiet time and dwell on the ultimate virtue of gratitude. We can never take too much for granted on the higher plateau of gratitude. Written by Lynn Barnes

Sustainable Development Goals Support Our Planet's Survival

November 20, 2019 - As the planet’s population grows and uses available resources, we have to use what we have wisely and to the best use. Dr. Leigh Zeitz, professor of Instructional Technology at the University of Northern Iowa, presented us with a discussion of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. These goals aim to find global solutions to create a world that has no pollution, no world hunger, no abject poverty, good health, quality education for all, gender equality, and 11 more problems in today's world to reach a total of 17 goals. One hundred and ninety-one countries of the 193 countries on the planet signed this proposal to address these goals and strive to reach the outcome by 2030.

The Sustainable Development Goals provide a good framework for working hard to make the world a sustainable place. This could provide a forward-looking structure for organizing and selecting the service projects that our club chooses to do. We should organize our program using this framework and give our work to improve the world more direction.

Productive Business Meeting Today!

 GREAT MINDS
AT WORK

We had a productive business meeting today.  Many issues were considered and multitudes of problems were solved.

"Now if only we could find some more sponsors, we would be able to help more kids in the Cedar Valley"

We have divided the work between four committees.  Here is the list of members for each of the committees. Contact these teams if you have any specific questions or suggestions for furthering our club's goals.

These Two Men Take Care of Cedar Falls

Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - The 2 men that have the most fun jobs in Cedar Falls are Park Supervisor Brett Morris and Park Construction Manager Kevin Cross.  They are in charge of all of Cedar Falls 42 Parks and Recreation areas within the city limits.  They are in charge of all the golf parks, buildings, maintenance, cemeteries, trees, lawns, and flower beds.  It is their job to make sure that the area residents have the best quality of life possible with all the scenery and recreational areas and make sure they are well maintained.  You can tell that they really enjoy their job of serving the community.  Written by Lynn Barnes

Sheriff Tony Thompson Shares the Enforcement Scene in CV.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019 - Just short of offering “Get Out of Jail Free Cards” to our Kiwanis Club, Blackhawk County Sheriff and Top Law Enforcement Officer, Tony Thompson, offered an insider’s view of what happens at the County Jailhouse. Sheriff Thompson is in charge of so much that protects and serves the county residents, we were all shocked about the multitude of concerns under his watch -  not to mention all the matters at the Jail. It's amazing how his job requires him to work with judges and bailiffs.  He and his officers are busy serving subpoenas, evictions, handling gun permits and investigating car accidents.  It was a great eye-opener on how our Top Cop does his job in Blackhawk County.  Written by Lynn Barnes

Mike Butler Shares Plans for Cedar Falls Veterans' Memorial Park

Wednesday, October 9, 2019 - Cedar Falls has a large community of veterans who served honorably in all branches of the US military.  Many area residents gave the ultimate sacrifice in life or limbs for or freedoms. But when the battles are over, the veterans' personal wars begin as they try to assimilate back into civilian life.   

Vietnam War Navy Veteran Mike Butler presented a way that citizens can keep their veterans' memories alive by buying commemorative bricks at the Cedar Falls Veterans Memorial Park on Waterloo Road for $50 each. These brick will both remind us of their loved ones who have served in the military to defend our freedoms and help defray the cost of maintenance of the park.  We thank all of our veterans for their military service.
Written by Lynn Barnes

Brian Gabel Shares the Behind the Scenes Stories of Sports Broadcasting

Wednesday, September 11, 2019 - When it comes to all the fan hoopla involved in making watching collegiate sports games a fun experience, the man in charge of that is Brian Gabel, the General Manager of Learfield Sports.  

Brian joined us today and explained the necessary behind-the-scenes activities that had to happen to pull off any sporting event.  He has a virtual army of experts at his dispatch. Each person, specializing in their particular talents, works together in unison with the precision of a Marine Corps Marching Band. People at the game or enjoying it by radio/TV benefit from Brian's team. These game productions and promotions have gone off so well for so long, that it is easy to take all this for granted.

Thank you for joining us, Brian.  We greatly appreciate your joining us for breakfast and all of the work to make our sports lives a little bit better.    
Written by Lynn Barnes

Andy Finegan Unveils the Workings of Habitat for Humanity

Wednesday, August 28, 2019 - Demand far exceeds the supply for the custom-made or rehabilitated homes constructed by the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity.  Andy Finnegan, the Community Engagement Director for Habitat, provided a quick but thorough overview of how the mostly volunteer organization functions. Composed of residential carpentry and construction trade professionals and an army of volunteers,  they are able to provide homes for those who need them. Even though some of the workers barely know how to swing a hammer, the team is able to construct single-family dwellings for families needing a place to call home.  

Currently, 260 Cedar Valley families are waiting to acquire the homes that generally take 2-5 weeks to build. These families don't get their homes for free. They usually help build the home and then repay the mortgage through an affordable repayment plan.

Habitat generally builds a home composed of 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, a 1-stall garage with a paved driveway. They especially design them so that they look like the homes belong in a neighborhood. 

They also offer a local Restore for Humanity of donated construction materials to generate funds to help defer project payments.

Andy (and Habitat for Humanity), you are making a difference in the world and we commend you!

Written by Lynn Barnes

Carol Lilly Reports on the Haps on CF Main Street

Wednesday, August 21, 2019 - Carol Lilly, Executive Director of the Cedar Falls Community Main Street and Downtown District, is the guiding hand of fostering rigorous economic activity in the downtown area.  Carol has the overview of 29 city blocks in the downtown area which covers 160 properties.  She fosters new business enhancements and development in this area, while still holding the historic image and the overall character of the business district.  

The economic retail impact last year of the downtown area was well over 47 million dollars including the 194 new residents who have moved in and made this their new home. This important organization is reliant on volunteerism and people's hospitality to keep downtown Cedar Falls a great place to live, work and do business.

Thank you for all you do to make Cedar Falls a better place, Carol.
Written by Lynn Barnes

Nick, Marv, and Dean share their Tales of Yore for the Rough Risers

Today we had a different format for our program. We decided that it would be interesting to hear about the Cedar Falls "Days of Yore" from founding members who helped it become a reality.

Watch this 42-minute video where our storytellers are Nick Teig, Marv Heller, and Dean Dreyer. 

Kiwanis Rough Risers' Tales of Yore

What do you think?  Do you know other stories about the Rough Risers?

Cedar Valley Angels

Wednesday, July 31, 2019 - Cedar Valley Angels' president and founder, Dick Kimball, and a foster family mother, Kelsey Schmitz, gave a lecture to the Kiwanis Club on the life of adopted children and the commitment of foster parents.  

Based upon the Love Box Program, that had its beginning in Houston, they use a methodology of living as positive role models to impact children’s lives. Typically, two foster parents develop a relationship with a child while the CV Angels provide a support group of 6-10 other adults to provide help for the child and the parent. There are more foster children in Blackhawk County then there are foster parents to develop relationships.  They are need of helpers and funding.

Thank you for the difference you are making in many peoples' lives and thank you for spending your morning with us.

Written by Leigh Zeitz and Lynn Barnes

Rough Risers Support Kiwanis Children's Fund

"To develop resources that transform the goodwill and vision of Kiwanians into programs that serve the children of the world" is the mission statement of Kiwanis International's Children's Fund.  Since 1940, the Kiwanis Children's Fund has been turning members' generosity into projects that reach children all over the world.

The Eliminate Project is a Children's Fund program where Kiwanis International and UNICEF have joined together to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus - Not reduce it - ELIMINATE it. Over 55 million lives in 14 countries are depending on Kiwanis to protect their futures.

The Eliminate project identifies $100,000,000 as the goal for making this goal a reality. Our Rough Risers Club has been supporting the Eliminate Project for a number of years and this year we were recognized for contributing over $25/member. We were recognized as a Silver-Level Today Club member.  You will see our virtual badge in the right-hand column on this webpage. 

We thank you, the Rough Risers members, for making your contributions and hope that we can continue to support this project until it reaches its goal. 

Sue Ney Initiated into Kiwanis Rough Risers

Wednesday, July 3 - We are pleased to announce that Sue Ney, sponsored by Sue Loy, was inducted as a  member into our Cedar Falls Kiwanis Rough Risers club. She has been an active participant in our club's activities since she over the past few months. Sue has been a school counselor for the Cedar Valley Catholic Schools and has been active in other service organizations. 

Welcome to our Club, Sue!

Girl Scouts

Wednesday, June 12 - Alicia Lewis and Holly Bark gave a sampling to explain why the Girl Scouts always sell their delicious cookies. They wanted to give a sweet first impression! And that is an understatement!  They are scrumptious!  16,000 of Northeast Iowa young ladies are going after merit badges learning new skills and the focus areas or STEM, Outdoors. essential Life Skills, and Entrepreneurship.  This training builds courage, confidence, and character to make the world a much better community.  We miss the Thin Mints that are sold only once a year for their fundraising efforts to pay for the 6 staff and volunteers.  A high point of the presentation was when they passed around plates of Girl Scout cookies. We told Alicia and Holly that the Mints are “Wafer” too long!   Written by Lynn Barnes

June Programs Promise Us Some Real Excitement

Wednesday, June 5 - Business Meeting 

Our club members get together to discuss what's happening now and make plans for the future. We talk about projects, kettlecorn, finances, marketing and a plethora of potential possibilities. Leigh Zeitz will share the latest developments for the Kiwanis Rough Risers website. 

Wednesday, June 12 - What's Happening in Girl Scouts, Alisa Lewis, Development Officer for the Cedar Valley of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois, will share the latest developments in Girl Scouts. She will review their program, the many accomplishments of their members, and future plans for best addressing the needs of their scouts.

Wednesday, June 19 - Red Cross Happenings. Rod Hamer, Red Cross Volunteer (and Kiwanian), will tell us his stories of what it takes to assure care, shelter, and hope to those affected by natural disasters. It is always an exciting experience to hear Rod "tell his tales" about how he has helped facilitate bringing relief to flood victims throughout the country.

Wednesday, June 26 - Building a Future by Building in Cedar Falls, Karen Howard, Planning and Community Services Manager for Cedar Falls, shares the ongoing plans for developing Cedar Falls. She will discuss downtown develop as well as the College Hill Urban Revitalization Plan. She will be able to provide insight into their foresight about the future of Cedar Falls.  It is an ongoing process towards residential conservation, rehabilitation, and development or redevelopment in the area. 

We Made the National News.

While I was roaming the Web, I came across an article about how service groups engage the younger generation into their clubs.  I sent a note to the author, Tim Ebner of Associations Now, and we began to discuss the opportunities. This resulted in Tim asking to interview me on the phone last Monday. He wanted to find out about what our Kiwanis club is doing.  I shared how we run our club and the many community-conscious members we have who engage incommunity-based projects . I even shared our website so that he would be able to see the depth of our accomplishments.

Since then, he has incorporated our story in his latest blog posting for Associations Now, What Can Associations Learn from Social Clubs? It discusses today's social clubs that attract the younger generation and aligns it with what our Kiwanis Rough Risers club is doing.  The best part about the article is that there a number of links throughout the article that take you to a wide assortment of other resources (sometimes postings on our website) to further the discussion.

Give it a read, click the links, and leave some comments below.

Leigh Zeitz

Developing Our Website into a Digital Scrapbook

Our Kiwanis Rough Risers website has been online since January 2009.  It has been a wonderful communication tool for us to share what we have been doing for the past 10 years.

The topics have included a wide variety of content.  The most popular topic has involved spotlighting our weekly programs.  At the beginning of each month, I post a list of programs that we can expect to enjoy.  Weekly, we post a photo and a description of what our presenter shared.  I must admit that this has been regularly done only in the past five years with the assistance of Lynn Barnes and Dan Conklin. (Thanks, Guys)

These pages also share an on-going record of periodic events, annual donations to youth organizations, commercial sponsors of our club, kettlecorn poppings, service projects, new member initiations, conference involvement, and remembrances of members who have passed on.  (Click each topic to see a collection of postings in that area.)

A Digital Scrapbook

The more that I have developed our website, the more I have realized that it contains the ongoing narrative for our club. These are the stories that give our organization meaning.  These tales share our accomplishments and portray our beliefs and vision. The challenge is to capture this characterization as thoroughly as possible.

Recently, I have expanded the scope of our website to include postings that include historical events going back to our original charter in 1980.   We began by prospecting through physical scrapbooks over the years so that we can scan newspaper articles onto the pages of our chronicle (Thanks, Lynn and Stan).  

I wanted to expand our database of history so this summer, I subscribed to newspapers.com to enable me to search the archives of the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier for articles about the famous (sometimes infamous) Cedar Falls Kiwanis Rough Risers.  I have been fortunate enough to find over 35 articles spanning the past 39 years which I have included in our historical narrative. I learned a great deal in reviewing these historical documents. Here are some of the events I uncovered (along with links to their postings):

• Rough Risers donated Cedar Falls Library's first computer - Apple IIe (1985)
• Our Newspaper Recycling Bins were set Ablaze by Middle School Students (1982 & 1986)
• Camp Fire Members Recycled Paper with Rough Risers (1987)
• Rough Risers were Rechartered in 1984.
• Rough Risers Funded and Rebuilt the Ice House Balcony (1985)
• Rough Risers were the First to Offer $$ and Labor to Renovate the Train Bridge for the El Dorado Trail. (1986)

Along the way, I decided to identify the many historical postings that were uncovered through research with the label, History.  Click Here to see most of them.

BUT WAIT A MINUTE!!!  The search doesn't end here. The richest source of stories lies within your hearts.   You are the living proof that the Rough Risers make a difference in the community and we would love to hear your stories.  Here is what YOU can do to expand our historical record:

1. Read through our Digital Scrapbook
2. If you have more to add to a posting, enter them into the Comments box below. Tell the story as you remember it and add your name at the end. 
3. If you have further ideas that you want to share, send an email to Leigh Zeitz (zeitz@uni.edu) to tell him of your memories of the event.

This is where we can share our history so people will better know who we are and what we represent.  Help tell our story . . . 

Leigh Zeitz

Rough Risers are Interviewed for Cedar Falls Channel 15

What do Dean Dreyer, Sue Loy, and Lynn Barnes have in common?  

They were interviewed by Roy Justis for Channel 15.  It was a thoughtful and informative interview that shared what we do, why we do it, and how we get the job done.  

This 22-minute video is one that all of our members should enjoy and it provides a great opportunity for potential members to learn who we are.

Share your comments (click on Comments below) about this video so that we can get some discussion going.

Mike Roth Shares His Restoration Stories

Wednesday, May 29, 2019 - It is never a gut "wrench"-ing experience when Mike Roth, owner of Autobody Pros in Cedar Falls; restores your old automobile to like-new condition.  Mike joined us for breakfast and shared his journey with us as he traveled from a kid working in his garage to one of the leading car restoration aficionadoes in Iowa.

Mike can make a custom Hot Rod from the frame up or customize your favorite daily driver old “Flivver” to showroom ship shape.  Mike can take an old Yugo or even a 2001 Ferrari 360 Spider and make it like new again. Mike took shared a restoration story that began with a car in horrible condition and ended with a car that looked like it was fresh off the assembly line.  Getting parts is the real trick for some older cars.  Sometimes, Mike needs to go out of the United States to get hard-to-find rare parts, but it is worth it.  The job is in the finish and Mike stakes his reputation on each restoration.

Thank you for sharing your stories with us, Mike.  
Written by Lynn Barnes and Leigh Zeitz

Mark Kittrell Shares Future Plans for Cedar Falls Development

Wednesday, May 22 - Knock-Knock. Who’s there? Canoe!  Canoe Who? Canoe tell me about a great White Water River Project?  The man who can--Mark Kittrell--came to our meeting to share info about the Cedar River Project and other Cedar Falls development.  

Mark Kittrell is the Co-Chairman for the Cedar River Project and he is on a mission to improve the quality and the community of Downtown Cedar Falls. He discussed the future plans and goals of our beautiful Cedar River.  They plan to develop the river into a water playground for tubing, kayaking, canoeing, fishing, and white water rafting. They hope that this will make Cedar Falls a destination city for tourists to enjoy the Downtown Plaza stores and Streetscapes.  

Mark also discussed the new housing developments in downtown Cedar Falls. New residents are streaming to Cedar Falls. The average age of residents in the condo developments is 26. It is a whole new world for Cedar Falls.

As the river area is enhanced to its fullest potential through bike paths, live music festivals, along with food vendors, etc. will bring new citizens to move into and live in the city - the Cedar Valley will prosper.
Written by Lynn Barnes

Building Financial Success through the JOB Foundation.

Wednesday, May 15 - Building enthusiasm for academics and financial responsibility is an important goal in today's world. 

Kelsey Unthum, Director of Development for the JOB Foundation, joined us to show how they are making a difference in the lives of disadvantaged children by teaching them how to manage finances through education, mentoring, and economic advancement.  

The Job Foundation has different programs to help students by incentivizing them to earn good grades.  This is based on the tenet that the better the grade, the more they earn just like in real life.  They currently have 125 children working with the foundation and are working toward the goal of 200 in the next few years.
Written by Lynn Barnes and Leigh Zeitz

Hops in the Cedar Valley Can Brew Excitement!

Wednesday, May 8 - The Cedar Falls Rough Risers learned to “Hop to It!” today. Our friend Keri Byrum, explained the beginnings and the workings of their Cedar Falls Hops Company located on their family’s farm west of town. She and her husband got hopped up to this endeavor in 2017 on a 7-acre portion farm set-aside to grow premium grade “cascade” hops for the Iowa craft brewing community. They knew they were on the rye-ght track. 

She said that the most difficult part of the hop business is the marketing of the ingredient, because they barley make it. Keri explained that hops are related to the apple family and it is extremely labor intensive to grow them; but that characteristic did not sober their spirits. She brought some hop pellet samples and passed them around.  They passed the smell test for the lupulin oils that gives beer that unique aroma and flavor beer lovers enjoy. Keri explained that all brewers use hops to make beer, but some use oranges once in a blue moon.

This provided a new perspective on beer and how it is brewed.  Thank you, Keri.

Written by Lynn Barnes