Awakening Grace Founders & Directors

Nikita Kleyer

Founder, Executive Director

“I am Nikita Kleyer, the founder and Executive Director of the Awakening Grace Foundation. My husband Matt and I live on a farm outside of Orange City and together have 4 children, Traci, Evie, Jade, and Jorah, and one grandson, Sam.

Professionally, I am a contract based Speech Pathologist, working primarily in long term care facilities. I also homeschool our three school aged children, and in my spare time run a small crafting business with my sister. I enjoy hobbies in which I can create and as a jack of all trades, really enjoy learning new things.

In addition to our 4 children earthside, we also have lost 4 children at various stages of pregnancy and infancy. The first child we lost was our son Shane Michael on April 15, 2014 at 12 weeks gestation. I was sent home where I birthed a tiny baby alone and had no idea what to do with him. I remember having to turn to google to help me make those decisions. I felt isolated and embarrassed during this loss and as if there was no one that understood the complexity of emotions my husband and I were experiencing. With the help of two other grieving mamas, we turned our pain into purpose and began Awakening Grace in an effort to meet families where they were, encouraging them to grieve, heal, and remember in ways they felt comfortable in. Over the last decade we went on to lose 3 more children-two during pregnancy (Baby K and Sanya Marie, and one in infancy (Dahlia Vivian). Each loss reminded me why this organization exists, why it is so important to continue the work we were doing. Awakening Grace is walking side by side with women as they miscarry their baby at home or while they prepare to deliver their full-term, stillborn child in the hospital. We are sewing memorial bears to fill a family's empty arms and beautiful burial garments, bringing dignity to their baby in their final resting place. We are finding resources to allow families to grieve without the financial burden of a funeral and photographers

that can capture a families first and last moments with their baby. We are sending care packages with items specific to each families journey of grief, healing, and remembrance, just to remind them they are not alone in this. Pregnancy and infant loss is unique in that we have little to no memories with our babies, but we love them as if we have a lifetime full. We lose not only that child, but a future full of love, ideas, expectations and all the hopes and dreams we had for that baby. Awakening Grace was created in the understanding of that and with the purpose of creating a space for families to feel seen, loved, and supported through it all.

In the midst of our pain and suffering, a legacy of love and hope was born. My mission within Awakening Grace is to continue that legacy and reach every family we can, showing them the same love and hope among the darkness.

You are not alone and your child matters.”

Roslyn Punt

Co-Founder

As a NW Iowa Native, I grew up in a community where everybody knows everyone and "everything". When my husband and I went through our stillbirth in 2012, outside of our family we had very little support. The hospital supplied a few brochures, the funeral home supplied some resources, but besides that we had nothing. When Nikita and her Husband went through their miscarriage, I knew as a friend I needed to be there to support them. The following year, Awakening Grace was born.

My family currently resides in Alton and consists of myself, my husband, and two very active young girls. If you can't find me at a dance competition or hockey tournament you can maybe find me out at the family farm or running around doing something for my multiple "jobs" that I carry.

Vanessa Harig

Awakening Grace Support Director

I'm Vanessa Harig, the Northwest Iowa Operations Director, as well as the Board of Directors President of the Awakening Grace Foundation. I live in Archer, Iowa with my husband Jeff and my three children, Ryker, Joycee and Huntley.

My everyday life changes from day to day. After giving birth to Huntley in October, I decided to not return to my full-time job. Currently, I dedicate my time to my children, my part time waitressing job, and Awakening Grace. My hobbies include but definitely aren't limited to: racing Figure 8 cars in Primghar, attending and helping my step son, Ryker, with his go-kart races, going camping, and playing outdoors with my children. Most days it seems like there isn't enough time in the day to enjoy everything that is a favorite of mine.

If someone would have asked me what Awakening Grace was in 2018, I would have honestly not been able to tell them. I didn't know that such a meaningful, purposeful, and supportive organization existed until my miscarriage.

On November 2, 2019 I was excited and anxious to go to my first ultrasound. I remember growing up I always wanted to become a mom. I always dreamt of the day that I could have ultrasounds, give birth to a beautiful baby, and be a mom to someone who I created. When I walked into the ultrasound room, I was so oblivious that anything could go wrong. When the ultrasound tech pulled up a separate screen to do the heartbeat and nothing moved, I knew. She left the room and came back about 10 minutes later. Her words were, "I'm sorry, but there's no heartbeat". That sentence stuck with me forever. I should have been 9 weeks pregnant but instead, my baby stopped growing at 6 weeks, 4 days.

Looking back, it hurts to admit that I didn't think I would have a miscarriage. I truly didn't even know much about miscarriages, yet alone a missed miscarriage. Thankfully, I was given Nikita's information from a friend and instantly was in contact with her. Nikita walked me through what to expect, as well as walked alongside me the entire time I was using the Miscarriage Retrieval Kit. Having such a devastating loss and laboring at home was lonely and traumatizing, but thankfully, Nikita helped me feel a little less overwhelmed.

In 2020, I bought some items that are used in the Arrows of Hope care packages and donated them to Nikita. We later met and discussed volunteering opportunities and then starting in 2021, I became the Operations Director. I can't put into words the amount of gratitude and honor that I felt then, in 2021, and now, in 2025.

The Arrows of Hope care packages are special to me, and I'm honored to be the one who packages them currently. Each care package is customized and personal because every baby matters. Every loss is different, and we try to reflect that with different resources and support. Packaging care packages is one of the several things that I do with Awakening Grace and it's one thing that allows me to honor each baby lost. It's important to me that no family walks this journey alone and that they are encouraged to grieve, heal, and remember in a healthy way.

We are always here for you. I will always keep sending my love with each care package that I prepare and to each family that I encounter.

Amber Beyer

Awakening Grace Support Director

I am Amber Beyer, the Central Iowa Director for the Awakening Grace Foundation. My husband Brett and I live on a farm outside of Leighton, IA and together have 5 children, Arie, Johanna, Dirk, Brooke, & Clarence. We are also foster parents and are blessed to have additional children in our home often.

Professionally, I have my degree in social work and theatre from Northwestern College in Orange City. It was always my goal to help people walk through some of life’s most difficult times. Currently, I homeschool our 2 school aged children, and in my spare time love everything related to running our farm. We have on average 80 head of sheep and several hundred head of hogs. In addition, I have 5 alpacas and more chickens than one person can count. I love taking walks down our gravel road with my family or, if we are up for more of an adventure, a walk by Lake Red Rock. I enjoy anything that is outside and keeps me active, especially if it involves my family or my animals. When I am not on the farm, I enjoy volunteering at church and attending several community bible studies.

It was in 2018, shortly after we delivered our stillborn daughter Jo, that a white package wrapped in a blue ribbon would appear at our house. Along with food and other gifts, our good friends from NW Iowa had also gotten ahold of Awakening Grace so that they could personally make the 4 hour drive to deliver a care package to us. It was in that time of so much pain and sorrow, that we also felt so much love and hope. I knew that Jo’s short life was not in vain and I wanted to find a way to continue to share her story. In January of 2019, I reached out to Awakening Grace to ask for more information on how I could start a similar organization in my area. Instead of creating a whole new organization, in April of 2019, Nikita invited me to join Awakening Grace as an area director.

Even though my title has stayed the same, my role and the work I do at Awakening Grace is ever changing. My primary goal was to access the resources and needs in central Iowa and help fill in the gaps to better serve grieving families. One of the biggest highlights from the past 6 years has been the creation of our annual retreat. The retreat grew out of a desire to have a space where we could come together as a community to process our grief, learn to heal, and walk away committed to remembering our babies. It has been amazing each year to see who walks through our retreat doors and the ways that the events of the day have an impact on them. We have welcomed moms, dads, grandparents, siblings, friends, uncles, aunts, and others. Sometimes they have had a recent loss or in other cases it has been 22 years.

Besides the retreat, I also have partnered with Pella Regional Comfort House to provide in-person support services, such as monthly support groups and a local walk-to-remember. Along with providing support and awareness in the Central Iowa area, I also work alongside Nikita, Vanessa, and our board to run various aspects behind the scenes of Awakening Grace.

Although it is impossible to sum up what Awakening Grace has meant to me personally, it is an even bigger task to describe the impact I have seen the impact on the countless families we have served. I have been reminded time after time how important it is to make sure people aren’t walking through their grief alone. Grief can be the thing that destroys a person or it can be the reason that propels them to make an impact in their community. In our culture, we are given all the reasons we should not grieve the loss of a baby during pregnancy or infancy. Perhaps this is a reason to help people feel better faster or because it is uncomfortable to talk about grief and loss. It seems like the best way to heal is to just “move on” as fast as possible. This isn’t the reality though.

When you lose a baby, no matter what gestation, you lose a child. You lose a part of yourself. It takes more than simply moving on to heal your broken heart. It takes a community of support that will be there when it’s hard. It takes a community that’s willing to ask the hard or awkward questions. Awakening Grace is this community and I am so proud to be a part of it.