Speakers

DRC Sponsor: Shannon Duncan

Love Takes Root was born of a group of Iowans organizing and planning ways to help an orphanage in Haiti. This 501(c)3 charitable organization is headquartered in Spencer, Iowa and is composed of educators, financial experts, medical personnel, realtors, small business owners, farmers, college students, lawyers and community volunteers.  Together, they are driven to help children around the world who are facing dire circumstances by delivering basic aid, education and the seeds for a sustainable future, including sustainable sources of clean water, food, shelter, and education. Barbara Wilkerson, Executive Director, will be on hand to share more information on how Love Takes Root is cultivating the future of children worldwide.

For more information or to donate please visit their website: Love Takes Root

DRC Sponsor: Dacia Monson

Pulpit Rock Brewing Company Co-Founder and Chairman Pete Espinosa will be on hand to give our members some unique insights into the ongoing expansion and new developments at this popular local business.

Pulpit Rock Brewing Co. launched its own craft beers in the fall of 2015. Their brewing headquarters and a tasting room, in a retrofitted garage on 5th Avenue near College Drive, are open all week. On any given day visitors will find a multitude of brews on tap, from a signature pale ale to a coffee-infused pour-over porter. Rather than scale the business by selling greater volume across wider distribution, the company sends limited product to a select few tap rooms across Iowa. The goal is to bring patrons to the source, providing them not only with great beer but a connection to the good-natured, hard-working, slightly Norwegian-nutty community that made it.

For more about the company please vist their website at Pulpit Rock Brewing Company.

DRC Sponsor: Lorraine Borowski

Sogo Snacks is a small, family owned and operated business in Decorah. Their mission is to create and promote fantastic-tasting, convenient, healthy meat snacks. They strive to be a humble and courageous company that follows the Golden Rule in all aspects of operations and use their support and success to benefit society, both at home and abroad.

Dan Bellrichard’s desire to create a business with lasting value guided him to take a leap of faith in 2016 to start Sogo Snacks with his wife Liza and daughters Lulu, Poppy, and Solveig. The Sogo Snack logo features a baobab tree, the leaves of which provide Malians relief from the hot sun and sustenance for the sauce in their staple meal. Their products can now be found in some of the largest retailers in all parts of the country. Dan plans to share his amazing story and more about his company with our members.

For more on Sogo Snacks please visit their website at Sogo Snacks.

DRC Sponsor: Don Arendt

Terry Buenzow, Winneshiek County Recycling Department Manager, will provide our Cliub with information and updates on the Winneshiek County recycling program. For nearly two decades, Buenzow has been watching the recycled materials market to analyze trends in the recycling world and how to most effectively and efficiently put recycled items back into use. Since the Winneshiek County Recycling Center became a public facility on April 1, 2009, local and regional interest in the center has increased every year. The Recycling Center processes nearly 6 million pounds of materials per year and has capacity for handling more. The largest expense aside from payroll is the hauling cost for the bins at aroud $75K per year. Revenue not used to offset the expense of recycling is returned to the Winneshiek County General Fund for property tax relief.

For more information visit their website at Winneshiek County Recycling.

DRC Sponsor: Lorraine Borowski

Sean Snyder, Winneshiek County Emergency Management Coordinator, will offer our members with information on the newly organized Winneshiek County Dispatch Services, a partnership between the Decorah Police Department, the Winneshiek County Sheriff's Office, and Winneshiek County Emergency Management.

On January 1, 2020 an intergovernmental 28E agreement started for the management of the Dispatch Services Center under the cognizance of Snyder, Winneshiek County Sheriff Dan Marx, and Decorah Police Chief Dave Smutzler. These individuals are responsible for daily operations and personnel management decisions for the period from January 1st through July 1st, a self-proclaimed "trial run" to be used for refining processes and procedures. This shared management receives direction from the Winneshiek County Emergency Management Commission, which is comprised of all the mayors in the county, Winneshiek County Supervisor Mark Kuhn, and Sheriff Marx. The plan is for the Dispatch Services Center to be officially acquired by the Winneshiek County Emergency Management Commission on July 1st to match the start of the new fiscal year.

DRC Sponsor: Jim Morrow

Dr. Edith Parker is a Professor of Community and Behavioral Health and Dean of the University of Iowa College of Public Health. Her expertise includes community engagement, health promotion, and policy formation. She will update our members on current public health issues facing Iowa communities and highlight efforts by the University of Iowa College of Public Health to improve health in our state and around the world through its academic, research, and outreach programs.

A nationally recognized expert on Community-Based Participatory Research, Dr. Parker's work centers on engaging community members in the design, implementation, and evaluation of research interventions, and translating and disseminating research findings for program and policy change. She has consulted on community-academic partnerships in Alabama, California, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, and Canada, and has published extensively on the use and evaluation of such partnerships.

Dr. Parker holds a bachelor’s degree from Davidson College, as well as Master of Public Health and Doctor of Public Health degrees from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She served on the faculty of the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan before joining the University of Iowa in 2010.

For more information on the U of I College of Public Health see their website at https://www.public-health.uiowa.edu