(Greenfield) The creators of the Freedom Rock projects have started a non-profit: The Freedom Rock Foundation.
Ray and Maria Sorensen, of Greenfield, have started the organization as a way to fold the end of the Freedom Rock® Tour into the next chapter.
In 1999 Ray Sorensen painted his first mural on a large 90-ton boulder and has repainted it every year since for the past 22 years. Sorensen is not commissioned for his work on the original Freedom Rock® but does so as a tribute to military men and women.
In 2008 Sorensen and his wife, Maria opened a mural and photography business. They also created the Iowa & 50 State Freedom Rock® Tour(s) in 2013. Since then, Ray and Maria, along with their two young children, have been traveling the state (and country) placing a Freedom Rock® in all of Iowa’s 99 counties and 6 other states, to date.
Ray Sorensen said the Freedom Rock® Foundation will exist to continue the mission of the original Freedom Rock® and the Freedom Rock® Tour and also to assist in creating new murals and memorials as well.
“We didn’t want to just kind of leave the tour and leave the communities high and dry,” said Ray Sorensen. “There’s been a Freedom Rock hit by a car already, there’s been a couple under flood waters, you know mother nature can make fools of all of us and we just want to be there with some assistance to kind of help communities care for not only just the rock but also the landscaping around the rock if there’s a way we can assist and kind of help maintain and fix and keep those looking nice as the years go by.”
The Sorensen’s have some ambitious goals for the Freedom Rock® Foundation, including to eventually have a physical location for people to visit and for the Sorensen’s to operate out of. The new Studio/Museum would feature artifacts from the Freedom Rock® Tour, original artworks and a place to watch them work on new pieces and projects.
Donations can be made online at: https://www.freedomrock.foundation.
Or may be sent to:
The Freedom Rock® Foundation
P.O. Box 97
Greenfield, IA 50849
