Freedom Festival honors local ‘heroes’ for service to community

CEDAR RAPIDS — Four people will be honored in Cedar Rapids next month as “heroes” for their bravery, selflessness and dedication to serving their communities.

The Freedom Festival’s Tribute to Heroes annually honors individuals who “embody the spirit of unity and resilience.”

This year, those people are John Thompson, Anne Dugger, Brian Eschen, and Matthew Kunkle, who is being honored posthumously.

The Freedom Festival, in its 42nd year, is a Cedar Rapids celebration featuring events ranging from music to fireworks that begins in June and ends with its “Celebration of Freedom” and fireworks on July 4. The heroes will be honored twice: as parade marshals on June 28, and at a breakfast on July 1.

In years past, the festival has lasted upward of a month. But this year, Freedom Festival Executive Director Brittany Barnhart said the decision to consolidate the schedule to just over a week was deliberate.

“I was hearing a lot from the community over the last couple of years of being on the board that people were starting to not understand the festival,” she said. “Because when you think of a festival, you think of something that is a little bit more condensed.”

Tribute to Heroes honorees are nominated by the community and chosen by a committee.

Matthew Kunkle remembered for ‘deep devotion’

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Kunkle, a former Cedar Rapids fire captain, is being honored posthumously following his death last August.

He had been a member of the Cedar Rapids Fire Department since 1996, following a stint as a paramedic in his hometown of Cedar Falls. When he died, he was a captain and a critical care paramedic in Cedar Rapids.

According to Tribute to Heroes, he was “guided by his passion for helping others, and his deep love for his family and animals.”

“His heart was big, his laugh unforgettable, and his legacy one of strength, kindness, and deep devotion,” the nomination states.

John Thompson honors the fallen

Thompson, a U.S. Army veteran, founded Salute to the Fallen in 2019. The nonprofit offers services and resources for active-duty military members, as well as veterans. Since its creation, Salute to the Fallen has escorted more than 400 military funerals.

Earlier this month, Salute to the Fallen assisted with eight of the 24 National Guard deployment ceremonies held throughout the state.

Thompson coordinates everything from refreshments and escorts, to speakers and even bagpipers for military funerals and other events.

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He sees the toll suicide takes on veterans. This year alone, Thompson has provided services for 40 active service members and veterans who have died by suicide, a figure he said is double the usual.

Suicides among veterans have increased over the last 20 years. In 2022, the VA reported that since 2001, it had recorded an increase in veteran suicides, from 23.3 to 34.7 per 100,000. The figure for veterans is consistently around double the rate of nonveteran suicides.

The services Thompson’s nonprofit offers take him to every corner of Iowa, he said. In the 12 months after he bought a new funeral vehicle, he put 45,000 miles on it.

“Someone will say, ‘oh do you know where this is?’ And unfortunately I can tie it to a soldier I’ve buried,” Thompson said.

Thompson linked suicides in rural Iowa to a shortage of mental health and crisis services there. He said rural veterans in mental health crisis can face four- to five-month wait times.

“What I know about people in crisis,” he said, “is they don’t say ‘I’m going to be suicidal in six months.’”

Between 2008 and 2023, there was a 94 percent decrease in available mental health care facilities in the state, according to a 2024 report by Common Sense Institute Iowa. The facilities include community mental health centers, residential and intermediate care facilities for the intellectually disabled, and psychiatric medical institutions for children.

Thompson, who ran for the Iowa House District 80 seat in the 2024 election, said he will not run for office again, in part because of what he sees as a lack of will to address mental health care needs in the state.

Brian Eschen is a problem-solver for local veterans

Eschen, a retired electrician and U.S. Navy veteran, is president of the Freedom Foundation in Cedar Rapids, a nonprofit that offers food and meal services, as well as fellowship, to veterans.

So far, in 2025, the foundation has dispersed $22,000 in veteran assistance dollars, which helps veterans pay rent and utilities. A veteran can receive a maximum of $1,000 per month up to three times.

These funds, Eschen said, can be provided instantly. That helps in cases where immediate assistance is needed. Government services can take much longer to arrive.

Further dignifying the organization is the spur-of-the-moment work Eschen says he does with veterans day-to-day, like driving them to doctors’ appointments.

“I’ve helped a veteran go get a phone,” he said. “I took his information, went out and talked to T-Mobile, told the vet to go out to Lindale, did all the footwork so all he had to do was go in and sign.”

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Thompson and Eschen shared similar sentiments about being honored by the festival this year: shunning the limelight.

“I’m not a showboater, I do it because it’s my passion,” Eschen said. “If I can help one veteran, I’ve done my job.”

In addition to his work with the Freedom Foundation, Eschen also leads a veteran disc golf group, which provides veterans with activity and social connection.

Anne Dugger leads positive community change

Dugger offers “hope and opportunity” to the Cedar Rapids community as executive director of the Catherine McAuley Center.

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The Center, a nonprofit organization, serves adult learners, refugees and immigrants, and women healing from trauma. It offers educational and supportive services.

Dugger has worked at the Center for 10 years in various roles.

Initially, Dugger said she was confused by the Tribute to Heroes honor as she has not served in the military. Reflecting upon it further, she said she realized her role places her in a greater web of people involved with and affected by the military.

“Having worked with Afghans who came here, who were a huge part of the military presence in Afghanistan,” she said, “having worked with people who worked very closely with veterans, with our armed forces, I was like, OK, yeah, the work we're doing here is also part of the Freedom Festival.”

Dugger said her organization, like Thompson’s, struggles to help the people who depend on them as critical services become more difficult to access.

“It's very easy to overlook the populations that we're serving,” she said. “… veterans are often overlooked as well. And so if you don't typically see that or pay attention to it, to all of these populations, what happens when they're not getting the help you think they're getting?”

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