Category Archives: Member Spotlight

monthly member spotlight posts

Member Spotlight: Jed Vander Zanden

Jed Vander Zanden lives in the heart of Cedar Falls with his wife and five-year-old son. They have lived here for almost six years. Jed owns Sidecar Coffee Roasters in the Cedar Valley while his wife works at UNI as a professor.

Jed enjoys feeling connected to the community and feeling like he is one of the locals. They love the unique community vibe they get from shopping and eating locally. They are big supporters of both Single Speed Breweries and Basal/Cibo establishments. Local businesses supporting each other is great for the community.Continue reading→

Member Spotlight: Stephanie Clohesy

Stephanie Clohesy, and her husband, Bill, have lived in Cedar Falls since Bill was hired by UNI in 1987. They moved to the College Hill area, changed homes once, but stayed in the same neighborhood. Stephanie has a strategy consulting business that she runs from an office built onto their home. Bill is an Emeritus Professor in Philosophy.

 

The Clohesys transplanted here from New York City, so they miss the density and intensity of NYC. But they have found Cedar Falls to be a treasure as a community, full of interesting people that are so dedicated to the community as a whole. Sometimes she thinks about all of the things there are here in the Cedar Valley and wonders who were all the wonderful people that built these things, the parks, museums, and art centers?

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Member Spotlight: Mike Finley

Meet CFFC member owner Mike Finley. Mike was born in Jamaica, Iowa in 1963. He joined the U.S. Army in 1982, retired from that organization in 2009, and moved to Cedar Falls because of the lovely community and UNI. He went to college and picked up a degree in Criminology while furthering his real interest, which was financial literacy. He started the financial literacy club at UNI in 2011 as he started teaching classes on money to community members. During that time, he started writing and by the time he finished, he had written four books, Financial Happine$$, What Color is the Sky, Graduation!, and Now What?. Mike continues his mission to bring a financial education to all who are ready and willing to take control of their money and their life!

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Member Spotlight: Sue Hummel

Sue Hummel and her husband Dan, share their home with their dog Lily, and two cats, Midge and Mr. Pumpkin.  She was born and raised in Waterloo and has lived in Cedar Falls for 28 years. She graduated from Iowa State University and worked at a couple of advertising agencies as a graphic artist. Her heart was with animal care though, so she switched careers and worked as a veterinary assistant for eight years. During that time she started a pet sitting business, which she sold many years later, but she continued to work as an independent contractor for Dusk to Dawn Professional Petsitters. She is also involved in animal rescue, rehabilitation, and foster care.

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Member Spotlight: Betsy Brandt

Betsy Brandt and her husband Lynn have lived in Cedar Falls for 35 years. They have two grown daughters and two grandchildren. Betsy is a retired teacher.  
She enjoys living in Cedar Falls because it is a small enough community to feel a part of things and big enough including Waterloo and UNI that there are always interesting things to see and do. Betsy is very fond of the library and The World’s Window.  She also loves Stam, the chocolate shop, Cottonwood Canyon, and the Kitchen Essentials store. 

Betsy is looking forward to having the Co-op in the downtown area so that she can walk there and get good fresh vegetables. She would also be interested in any classes on nutrition and food preparation at the Co-op. She likes the idea of a deli in the store and having another gathering place down town.

Betsy likes to read, write, garden, travel, and be out in nature. She volunteers at the Book Nook, Arboretum, and The World’s window.  
Betsy says it’s hard to say what her favorite foods are because she loves lots of different things like fish, fresh fruits, and vegetables.  Her favorite things lately are asparagus, hummus, and avocados.  She likes trying foods from various ethnicities, especially Mexican and Indian.
Her favorite season is summer with late spring as a close second.  
Betsy is thankful that the Co-op works to help members get to know one another.  She says that is another attraction to being a part of the Co-op!

Member Spotlight: Henry Edsill

Henry Edsill and his wife Norma have been Iowa residents all of their lives.  Henry was born and raised in Waterloo; Norma was born in Cedar Rapids and grew up in Bettendorf.  In addition, they’ve lived and worked in Des Moines, Aplington, Mason City and Iowa City/Coralville.  They moved back to Cedar Falls in 2005-06 where they’ve settled into their present home.  Norma, who has a Masters in Library Science, recently retired while Henry is currently working as a lawyer, concentrating on wills, trusts, estate planning, administration and taxes.  They have two children, Heidi and Sam, both of whom are in their 30’s and live out-of-state. Continue reading→

Member Spotlight: Abby Rippe

Abby Rippe and her husband Mark are the proud owners of the Blueridge Orchard located in Denver. Abby, who is originally from Cedar Falls, returned to the Cedar Valley in 2008 with Mark. At that time, they were looking for a home in this area and came across a “for sale by owner” ad in the paper. When they went to view the house and property, they found that it also had a working orchard and subsequently became the new owners. Mark is employed by John Deere and Abby recently joined the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Black Hawk County where she works as a volunteer coordinator. She very much enjoys her new people-focused job working with volunteers across their programs.Continue reading→

Member Spotlight: Elizabeth Hackbarth

Elizabeth Hackbarth grew up in Cedar Rapids and has been back living and working in the Cedar Valley for the last three years. She currently serves as the Director of Development for the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa.  What Elizabeth likes most about our community are the people!  She loves supporting local businesses and her favorite places to frequent are the Vintage Iron, Cottonwood Canyon and Mulligans.  She enjoys being active and cheering for the Panthers and has served on the Cedar Falls Food Co-op Operations Committee for a couple of years now.  Elizabeth says her favorite season is “summer, hands-down”.  Her favorite foods are sweet potato fries and anything associated with Brunch as well as great wine.Continue reading→

Member Spotlight: Tara Sundt

This month’s Cedar Falls Food Co-op Member spotlight is Tara Sundt.

Tara Sundt grew up in Washburn with her parents and brother, attending elementary school in Washburn and then high school in Waterloo.  After graduation, she went into the Army where she was stationed in various places such as Fort Meade, Camp Jackson, Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, GA as well as in Hungary.  After eight years of service, Tara attended the University of Northern Iowa and received her degree in Computer Science.  She went to work at DISTek Integration, Inc. and then on to the Electronics Enterprise group at John Deere where she is currently employed, working on the software for tractors. 

Tara loves the feeling of belonging and familiarity of the Cedar Valley community where she’s grown up.  She enjoys activities such as Movies under the Moon and Live to 9 in Cedar Falls.  Some of her favorite places to frequent are Cup of Joe, Sidecar Coffee, SingleSpeed Brewing, Montage and Whiskey Road – she adds, “anyplace on Main Street in Cedar Falls”. Continue reading→