Staff

We are thrilled to welcome Natalie Leathers as our new Communications & Development Coordinator at Table to Table! Natalie brings a wealth of experience and enthusiasm to our team, and we couldn’t be more excited to have her on board.

Natalie holds a BA in Political Science with a certificate in writing from the University of Iowa, where she also worked as a media intern for the Public Policy Center and a student researcher with the Iowa Policy and Opinion Lab. Her deep-rooted passion for communications, outreach, and community service makes her the perfect fit for this role. Natalie will be spearheading volunteer recruitment, outreach initiatives, and events planning—so you’ll likely see her in the thick of things at our upcoming fundraisers or community events. 

When asked about why she was drawn to Table to Table, Natalie shared that she’s not only inspired by our food rescue mission but also deeply passionate about climate action. Her love for community work blossomed during her time with “Hawk the Vote,” and she’s excited to dive right into hands-on work—especially hopping on her food rescue routes! She’s also eager to start planning events, like our annual dinner, and exploring new ways to grow our community outreach.

 

A fun fact about Natalie? She’s an avid photographer! While she humbly claims not to be a pro, she’s been behind the lens since childhood, and we’re hoping to see some of her creative talent in action at our events. Natalie’s favorite food memory is baking the “Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies” with her mom as a kid. A recipe originally sourced from a food magazine, Natalie says “They really are perfect and so delicious. I still make them with her all the time when I go home to visit.” Since food is the way to win T2T hearts, we hope she will bring them back to Iowa City with her sometime! 

So, whether you’re a volunteer, donor, or partner, we can’t wait for you to meet Natalie and work with her on telling the Table to Table story. Be sure to give her a warm welcome when you see her around!

Position & Ideal Candidate Overview: Are you looking for a role in Communications, Marketing, or Fundraising where you’ll utilize your varied skill set to make a huge community impact? You could be the next Communications and Development Coordinator for Table to Table. We are looking for an outstanding communicator and a community-minded individual who is passionate and enthusiastic about conveying our mission to inspire and encourage engagement from volunteers, organizations, and the general public. The ideal candidate is organized, self-motivated, and has a great attitude to contribute to the positive strengths-based culture at T2T. The right candidate is patient and persistent in a dynamic work environment where there are tight deadlines and multiple requests or projects at any given moment. As this is a public-facing role, we’re looking for a “people person” who is tactful and enjoys interacting with those of diverse ages, abilities, and backgrounds. If you have these qualifications and want to put your time and energy toward feeding thousands of people in our community, this is the job for you!

Employment Status and Work Hours: (Full-time position)

Monday through Friday 8-4 with flexibility, some weekends and evenings required

40 hours per week, some overtime required 

Pay & Benefits: $40,000 to $46,000 annually, depending on experience.     

Benefit package includes paid vacation and sick leave, employer retirement contribution, along with 80% employer covered premium for employee health and dental coverage.

Roles and Responsibilities: 

• Create and implement fundraising campaigns, including appeal letters and online giving campaigns
• Implement community outreach and media relationships and strategies, including regular public speaking engagements and presentations.
• Lead the planning and coordination of the annual dinner fundraiser including event committee leadership, promotion, logistics, food, and fundraising. 
• Organize promotional events like Love Food Fight Waste, UI Homecoming Parade, and other outreach events.
• Write and create graphics for key organization publications including: newsletters, the annual report, brochures, fact sheets, etc. 
• Design ads, flyers, banners, brochures, fact sheets, event signage, invitations, etc. as needed.
• Execute social media strategy.

Desired Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in nonprofit management, communications, marketing, or a related field, or a combination of relevant education and professional experience in marketing, event planning, communications, fundraising, and/or community relations.

Necessary Skills and Requirements

• Valid driver’s license and good driving record.
• Excellent public speaking, presentation, and writing skills for the purpose of recruiting volunteers, fundraising, and promoting Table to Table’s mission. Ability to connect with others and forge strong relationships.

Review the complete Communications and Development Coordinator Job Description 2024.

To apply, email a resume and cover letter to hr@table2table.org

It’s with mixed emotions that we announce that Anne Hlavacek (née Langebartels) is leaving T2T to return to university to further her education.

In 2019, Anne joined us as our first development and communications staff. Before T2T, Anne served as an AmeriCorps Vista at Feed Iowa First, where she built their new development and outreach role. This made her uniquely qualified to do something similar at Table to Table. After only a few months on the team, we were particularly fortunate to have her support during the challenging pandemic years when nothing was normal and our template for communications and engagement went out the window. 

Anne has been incredibly adept at communicating challenging concepts about food access & equity, food recovery, and the value of nonprofit work in both writing and design. Some of her favorite projects and most meaningful projects include

• 25 Years of Impact Report – Anne’s huge investment of effort into interviews, archive review, writing, and design is evident in this representation of the T2T legacy.
• “Greatest Table” card – packed full of great information in an easy to read design that makes you want to know more. 
• The Power of Partnerships – in our most recent report to the community, Anne highlighted work that represents our values of collaboration, equity, appreciation, and love.  

Through this incredible work and so much more not listed here, she has helped raise the profile and recognition of Table to Tables critical contributions to the community. Anne’s efforts have also helped T2T significantly build our program capacity. High fundraising performance of appeals and fundraising initiatives funded additional operational capacity that increased our food collection by 750,000 pounds. 

When Anne joined the team, the road ahead was filled with opportunity and challenge which she approached with diligence and creativity. She has helped us build a strong, sustainable foundation for our relationships with funders, volunteers, and our community as a whole. We wish Anne well as she embarks upon her MFA journey at Iowa State University where we know she’ll build new skills and relationships that will continue to have a lasting impact on her community.

Know someone who might be interested in joining the team as our new Communications Coordinator – read more about the position here.

 

Please join us in welcoming a new member of our team, Alex Courtney, who will be serving as our AmeriCorps Data Systems Coordinator for a year. 

To understand Alex’s important role, a little recent history is in order. In 2019, Table to Table staff and leaders identified our current data management system as one of our biggest barriers. We’re tracking 2.5 million pounds of 10,000+ pick-ups and deliveries and 150 partnerships on paper and in Excel. Our 3-year strategic plan prioritizes new organization-wide software to help us overcome our infrastructure barriers and improve our food rescue operations. Alex is going to bring us from spreadsheets and paper into the 21st century. He will help us connect with our partners and volunteers easier and make all the data we collect more accessible and actionable.

Alex recently graduated from the University of Iowa with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science. He came to Table to Table in the summer of 2020 looking for a project that would use his skill set to do good and advance the mission. At that time, we were piloting a new mobile app that would help local gardeners donate their excess produce. As a volunteer, Alex helped us test and set up the app which we will be using for a second upcoming season. Impressed with his initiative on the first project, we invited him to join us for a new project as an AmeriCorps VISTA member. VISTA members commit to serving in a volunteer capacity full-time for a year. We were thrilled he agreed to join us and make this incredible commitment. 

Alex is an aspiring software engineer. Now, three months into the project, it’s clear his experience is well suited to helping us identify a good fit for our software needs and leading us through the implementation process. Of his programming work, Alex says, “It’s construction by iteration. There’s always something to be improved upon if you’ve got the gumption to do it.” That’s one of the things that makes him a great fit for Table to Table – we’re always iterating and improving on the work of food rescue. This project to upgrade our systems is evidence of that. 

Alex is a lifelong resident of Iowa City. As an Eagle Scout, Alex participated in service projects like Scouting for Food where he collected canned goods door to door and donated them to local food pantries. As an adult, he became acquainted with the T2T mission through his wife Bernice, who has been a route and committee volunteer for several years. This last year has helped Alex see the scope of hunger relief work. “Through involvement with Table to Table I have been able to see where that food ends up and the needs of people out there, especially during COVID, “ Alex explains. “I hope this [software project] will relieve the administrative burden on the staff and they can spend their time more efficiently and that we build a lasting solution, a software that helps them work together using data from all places.” 

We’re happy to report that we’ve recruited another lover of food and food memories. T2T staff and volunteers often commiserate and connect over food favorites and after just a short couple of months, Alex is ready to collect new entries for a T2T recipe book. He is famous for his spicy Chex mix recipe and he’ll let you in on the secret, it’s fresh garlic and hot peppers. No word yet if the complete recipe will be in the next Recipes to the Rescue recipe book.