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Christina Sullivan Welcome Announcement

Anne Langebartels/News, Team News /staff /

September 2, 2025

Headshot of Christina. We are thrilled to welcome Christina Sullivan as our new Donor Relations Officer at Table to Table! With her strong background in community engagement, storytelling, and relationship-building, she brings both heart and skill to our small but mighty development team.

Born and raised right here in Iowa City, Christina earned her B.A. in Theatre Arts with a minor in Spanish from the University of Iowa. For the past four years, she managed the beloved downtown boutique Textiles, where she was known for her personalized customer service and compelling marketing emails. It’s

through her role there that she’s built meaningful connections across our community—including many familiar faces in the nonprofit and donor world. Her ability to connect, communicate, and cultivate relationships will be essential for her new role.

When asked why she was drawn to Table to Table, she shared a quote from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg “If you want to be a true professional, you will do something outside yourself. Something to repair tears in your community. Something to make life a little better for people less fortunate than you. That’s what I think a meaningful life is- living not for oneself, but for one’s community.” A message that resonates with a lot of us contributing to the mission of Table to Table. As Christina says, “One thing we all have in common is that we all need to eat. I strongly believe we all deserve to eat well. Table to Table helps to repair very fundamental tears in not only our community, but our world- decreasing waste, rerouting resources to those that need it most, and treating everyone with dignity. No one should go hungry when there is abundance, and I’m proud to work for an organization that is such a cornerstone to our Iowa City support network.” A longtime fan of our work, she’s thrilled to now be part of it and is especially excited to meet volunteers and donors at upcoming events. Some of you have already met her when she shared a Friday food rescue route with her dad, Tim Sullivan— clearly, she’s eager to get involved hands-on.

A fun fact about Christina? She is a Shakespearean actor by night! She’s been part of many outdoor productions at Riverside Theatre and Christina on-stage during a theater production. is currently touring Romeo and Juliet to high schools as part of a program to make the arts more accessible. If you recognize her from the stage—say hi! Oh, and if you’re in need of a dance partner, she’s also certified in 13 ballroom styles (yes, really).

And we’re always interested in favorite food memories of staff and volunteers. For Christina, it’s homemade strawberry pie from her mom’s garden. When it comes time to eat the first strawberry pie of the season, Christina, her mom and her sister all share a first bite at the same time.

Please join us in giving her a heartfelt welcome as she begins this new chapter with Table to Table. We’re lucky to have her on the team!

Natalie Leathers Welcome Announcement

Anne Langebartels/News, Team News /staff /

October 3, 2024

Natalie in the shop with a food donation of edible gourds.

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.

Natalie on a glean at Wildwoods Farm showing off the tomatoes she harvested.

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!

We Bid Farewell and Good Luck to Communications & Development Coordinator Anne Hlavacek

Table to Table/News, Team News /staff /

May 24, 2024

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.

It Takes a Village…to raise a Food Rescue to the Next Level

Anne Langebartels/Annual Impact Report 2023, News, Team News /FY23 Annual Impact Report, staff /

October 23, 2023

It’s been a year of transition and bringing enthusiastic new team members into the operation at Table to Table. We’d like to take a few minutes to recognize the contributions of the staff, student leaders, and AmeriCorps team since last summer.

Staff Team Transitions & Additions

We bid a fond farewell to Program Coordinator Ezra Schley in July 2022, who had been with us since summer 2020. That September, Chaim Jensen joined T2T as our newly-titled Logistics & Relationships Coordinator. Having worked on the supply side of the food system for years, Chaim understands all too well the barriers and opportunities to reduce food waste. His work also helps T2T build and maintain relationships with food donor partners. He says he “was attracted to the problem-solving aspect of the position, knowing that no two days are the same.” He’s right: that’s the very nature of food rescue!

T2T added a new (and proven essential!) full-time staff position to our team in November 2022. Operations Coordinator Elizabeth Wagner was first introduced to T2T in her work at longtime food donor partner New Pioneer Co-op, where she developed an interest in the local food system and got to know food vendors and producers. “I was really drawn to T2T’s community-focused approach and dedication to fighting food waste,” she says. “Community engagement and sustainability are two passions of mine.” Her new position improves our software and data abilities, supports our fleet and facility, and ensures daily operations run smoothly to support T2T’s growth.

Program Assistant Steve Noack, known as a friendly face to greet volunteers and launch them on their food rescue routes each morning, fully retired (motivated in part by his adorable new grandson) in fall 2022. The team welcomed Gina Hudson into this part-time role in December, with the new, more-descriptive title of Dispatcher & Driver. Gina brings her volunteer experience at food banks and farm animal sanctuaries to this role that involves much communication with volunteers, food donors, and food access partner organizations. “It is a human right to have access to food and to nutritious food,” she says. “I believe this is also a crucial environmental issue by rescuing the food and keeping it out of the landfills where food becomes a substantial contributor to climate change.”

AmeriCorps Service Members

At the end of 2022, Table to Table bid a fond farewell to our Data Systems Coordinator, Alex Courtney. Each day since we’ve utilized software he helped us tailor to our specific food recovery needs during his AmeriCorps service term and later as a part-time staff member. At the beginning of Alex’s service in early 2021, T2T was tracking over two million pounds of 10,000+ food pick-ups and deliveries, 150 partnerships, and hundreds of volunteers on paper and in Excel spreadsheets. Alex ushered our technology into the twenty-first century, enabling us to analyze all sorts of data points that tell us about food sourcing, distribution, and to understand critical patterns in the hunger relief network as a whole. With this data at our fingertips, we can take action to improving our network and continue to connect as much nutritious food as possible to our most vulnerable neighbors. (Join a virtual demonstration of this technology in action on November 29!)

In November 2022, Nora Garda completed her second service term as AmeriCorps Gleaning Coordinator through the ISU 4-H Outreach program. Nora helped lead T2T to recovering more than 40,000 pounds of local produce during the 2022 growing seasons. Hear her love for connecting fresh food from the growing community to our neighbors straight from Nora: she wrote this insightful reflection on a gleaning season after her first service term in 2021.

Throughout summer 2022, two local produce recovery AmeriCorps service members supported this work. Molly Suter worked closely with Nora in gleaning coordination to schedule and lead gleans with local farmers and volunteers. Alyssa Schaeffer planned and implemented T2T’s free produce stands. She helped create a regular produce stand schedule and reached additional folks through free produce coolers for self-service at community events.

Also in summer 2022, seasonal AmeriCorps service member Lillian Poulsen developed food access education and diversity, equity, and inclusion training materials requested by food recipient partner agencies. “Supporting marginalized communities, especially in terms of better equipping volunteers and other people who want to help, drew me to this position. I’ve always been someone who’s willing to listen and wants to hear stories from others,” she says of the role.

Ngonyo Mungara joined the team as a COVID-19 Recovery AmeriCorps member during the first half of 2023 for general food rescue program support to support route based rescue and increase food donations. “It was a pleasure to get to know volunteers from so many different walks of life and learn why they like volunteering for Table to Table,” she says of one of her favorite aspects of the role. “I liked that each day was something different; you never get bored at T2T!” During her tenure she took our first steps in partnering with grocers offering specific cultural foods. She is excited to see this program to access culturally appropriate foods continues to grow. She notes, “Johnson County is becoming an increasingly diverse area and there is a need for more culturally relevant foods in pantries to support these communities.”

Lisa Truong and Marquis Heard served as local produce recovery AmeriCorps members in summer 2023. Lisa took on farm, orchard, and garden glean coordination, forming relationships with new partners and coordinating at least 25 gleans during her four month term. She also transitioned the program to a regular schedule that fit farmer needs, an enhancement that increased gleaning opportunities and produce output. As a bonus, she frequently baked veggie-based desserts to share. Vegetables + Desserts = Delicious! Marquis coordinated free produce stands, setting a regular schedule for each produce stand location and helping to translate free produce stand materials. We’re so happy he is continuing his service at T2T in a yearlong term through Green Iowa AmeriCorps.

Practicum & Internship Students

Amiya Jones sought out T2T as a partner for completing her Masters in Social Work practicum during the 2022-2023 school year. She was excited to learn more about environmental and food justice work in nonprofits through working closely with T2T executive director Nicki Ross. “I have always been passionate about food insecurity and building self sustaining communities within my journey as a social worker,” she said of her role. Amiya supported T2T’s efforts to revise our mission statement and implement values, practices, and training to support equity and access initiatives.

Lauren Wegmann, a student in marketing and philanthropy, jumped right into helping T2T plan our annual dinner in spring 2023. Her enthusiasm helped T2T surpass our fundraising goal for the event!

Whew! So many transitions and so many wonderful team members!

With all those transitions, the rest of the crew can’t be overlooked: we continued to have throughout fiscal year 2023 our seasoned Executive Director Nicki Ross, Communications & Development Coordinator Anne Langebartels (now Hlavacek), Volunteer Coordinator Jared Long, part-time Bookkeeper, Celia Eckermann, and Programs & Services Manager Allison Gnade, who celebrated one year in the role this past February.

View our current staff & Board of Directors team on our website.

Film reflection with the food rescue team

Anne Langebartels/News, Team News /AmeriCorps, events, staff /

September 12, 2022

Table to Table staff discuss documentary “Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story”

A bell pepper seedling blooms on the screen as Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” begins to play. The camera follows one pepper as it forms on the plant, is picked, and is transported to a processing facility. It’s placed in a box with several other peppers, shipped to a grocery store, set on the produce shelf, and finally purchased by a lucky consumer.

After its months-long journey it is placed in that person’s refrigerator. We watch as the pepper turns yellow, then orange and red – then it loses its shape as it rots on the shelf, forgotten.

As we watch, every member of the Table to Table team groans or exclaims once it becomes clear no one is going to eat that beautiful pepper. For a team that spends all their working hours rescuing food from such a fate, it’s almost painful to watch.

In Just Eat It: A food waste story, filmmakers Jen and Grant decide that for six months, they will only eat food that was headed for the waste stream. They source this food by asking grocery stores if they can look through items that have been culled from shelves, or by going straight to the dumpsters behind stores to see what’s available. T2T staff gathered to preview the film together before we showed it on the big screen at our drive-in movie night. Here’s our take.

It is important to note that T2T rescues food before it reaches dumpsters. In the model we use, food donor partners set aside good food that otherwise would have been tossed for a variety of reasons unrelated to whether the food was still edible: there was an error in ordering and they have too much, containers are mislabeled, or it’s “ugly” produce or getting close to the “sell by” date and consumers aren’t likely to buy it. Table to Table volunteers collect this food from stores and deliver it to hunger relief partners within a few hours.

Lauren delivers a cart of rescued food to CommUnity Food Bank — **T2T volunteer Lauren delivers food she just rescued to CommUnity Food Bank.**

At least one-third of all food produced worldwide isn’t eaten. Just Eat It is an attempt at answering the questions, “What impact does this have? Why does the world let so much food go to waste?”

Wasted food affects our climate. Once large amounts of food are compacted together in landfills and rotting, they produce methane. “Methane is a potent greenhouse gas MANY times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere – and the primary contributor to the formation of ground-level ozone,” Nora Garda, T2T Gleaning Coordinator, observes after watching the film.

Molly Suter, Local Foods Recovery Specialist, adds, “Through wasting food, we are directly contributing to the quickly changing climate of our own planet.”

**Just Eat It Director and film subject Grant Baldwin is shocked to find a swimming pool sized dumpster filled with discarded hummus. Credit: Peg Leg Films–Scene from Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story**

Resources that went into producing the food are also wasted. Several T2T staff were shocked to learn that throwing away one hamburger is equivalent in water usage to taking a 90 minute shower. “The water used to produce the total amount of food the world throws away can provide water for 500 million people,” Molly says, which then raises her question, “What other overlaps with social issues exist with food waste?”

“It’s an issue of environmental justice in terms of who has access to the food in the first place, AND people who need this water and this good food often don’t have access to it,” Lillian Poulsen, Food Access & Equity Training Specialist, notes. “In my role, I focus on access and equity in terms of education for our partners and the volunteers with whom they work. The issue of environmental justice is a key facet of what we do as an organization, and the amount of food wasted in our country, state, county, and community directly affects the lives of poor and marginalized communities where food insecurity is most prevalent.”

The documentary states that the majority of food waste comes from households, pointing out that generally individuals waste up to a quarter of what they buy from the store. The documentary demonstrates with a particularly effective illustration: “Imagine walking out of the grocery store with four bags loaded with food and you drop one in the parking lot on the way to your car…and you just leave it there.”

A grocery store customer drops a bag of groceries in the parking lot and leaves it behind. — Consumers waste about 25% of the food they buy. Imagine having 4 bags of groceries, dropping one in the parking lot, and just leaving it there. Credit: Peg Leg Films–Scene from Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story

What contributes to this level of waste?

One issue pointed out by Nicki Ross, Executive Director, is “this idea that we determine what we will eat by first asking, ‘what do I feel like eating?’ She adds, “My family didn’t always have a lot growing up and one of the skills we developed is making a pretty good meal with whatever was left in the fridge or cupboard. ‘Do I really want that?’ is partially the product of a wealthy society.”

“It’s important to highlight how our culture views food in terms of abundance,” Lillian says. “The movie talked about how it’s seen as a failure in our culture when food runs out [at a party, for example], and wasting food isn’t taboo.”

“In the end I was disheartened to think about the waste that is created by me as a consumer and the way that stores order and stock food to appease the consumer, from rejecting perfectly good fruit because the shape is not ‘perfect’, to ordering way more than needed so that the shelves always look full,” Jared Long, Volunteer Coordinator, says.

Nicki adds, “It’s not uncommon for food sellers to have this opinion. They don’t want to ‘ruin their image’ by offering ‘ugly’ or discounted products. Interesting fact: Retailer standards far exceed that of the state for food safety/quality reasons.” Retailers who donate food are also protected under the Bill Emerson Food Donation Act.

“How can we change consumer/grocery store standards so grocery stores don’t only display ‘perfect-looking’ products and consumers don’t insist on only that?” Celia Eckermann, Bookkeeper, asks. The only item required by the FDA to include Best By dates for safety is infant formula. She continues, “How do we educate the public on the meaning of those dates and get manufacturers to adjust the wording so grocery stores and consumers don’t waste dated products?” (Learn more about how to decode Best By, Use By, and Sell By dates here.)

Fruits and vegetables are the most-wasted food group. What stood out from the film to Alyssa Schaeffer, Local Foods Access Specialist who coordinates free produce stands, was “how much food gets wasted at the beginning of the food system cycle. A lot of food gets left in the field, which is where T2T gleaning and free produce stands come into play.”

Samira and Alyssa stand at a table loaded with free produce — Samira (left), Community Resource Navigator at Coralville Public Library, and Alyssa are ready to welcome folks to a free produce stand at Coralville Community Food Pantry. With increased fresh produce from gleaning and garden recovery, T2T is organizing neighborhood free produce stands in partnership with local pantries and neighborhood centers, reducing barriers to fresh produce access.

In the film, a celery farmer is shown letting half the cut celery go to waste out in the field because it won’t fit in the bags it’s sold in and it isn’t economical to pay for labor costs to collect it. A situation like this is where T2T comes to the rescue, literally. We send teams of volunteers to local farmers’ fields to glean extra produce at no charge. Farmers don’t want their produce to be wasted; there is just no financial or time incentive to harvest everything they produce.

“I wish every community had a Table to Table,” Molly adds. “I wish everyone was more cognizant of the tremendous amount of food wasted and how it connects to other issues.”

T2T recovers over 2 million pounds of food each year in Johnson County and connects this abundance to the great need in our community. You can help! Learn more about volunteering, or make a donation. Are you a gardener? Bring your extra produce to our office and we’ll distribute it.

Missed our screening of “Just Eat It?” You can watch it here – then let us know what you think! Send your observations and questions to us at info@table2table.org.

Celebrating one year with our Program Assistant, Steve Noack

Anne Langebartels/News, Team News /staff /

July 8, 2022

We’re celebrating the first work anniversary of our Program Assistant, Steve Noack! Steve started at Table to Table on June 3, 2021, and hit the ground running. He quickly jumped in and was an invaluable member of our team before we knew it, bringing with him skills that we didn’t even know we would soon need.

Steve was attracted to T2T because he felt that food rescue is a great cause, because of the efficiency of our model (that’s engineer speak), and because he had been familiar with T2T for quite a while and admired our mission. “Rescuing food, reducing the waste of such a valuable resource, addressing food insecurity, and doing all of that with a relatively limited budget utilizing finite resources is really quite impressive and something that I wanted to be a part of,” he says (roughly paraphrased, with permission).

Steve delivers coffee to coworkers — Occasionally you’ll find Steve making a surprise coffee delivery!

Steve’s title is Program Assistant (Official) and In House Iowa State Advocate (Unofficial). Steve has a degree in Engineering from ISU and an MBA from Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU). We’re not sure what all the criteria were that Steve used to select SVSU, but it does appear as though their mascot is a Cardinal, not all that different from ISU’s.

Outside of his engineering expertise, Steve has also volunteered or worked through the years at many area nonprofits, including Iowa City Free Lunch, Shelter House, and Successful Living. Steve has used these skills to not only help plan and launch food rescue routes, but we also utilized Steve’s experience in planning and designing our new space at Pepperwood Plaza.

We truly have been fortunate to find someone of Steve’s ilk to become a member of our team. If you haven’t had the chance yet, please take a moment to say hello and ask him about any number of topics, including but not limited to: the Cyclones, cars, tires (he surprisingly knows quite a bit), fire safety and safe egress, his new grandson, lava lamps, how crypto currency works, and lest we forget, the efficiency of route-based food rescue.

Introduction written by Jared Long, Volunteer Coordinator

Nicki Ross Celebrates 5 Years as T2T Executive Director

Anne Langebartels/News, Team News /letters from the director, staff /

May 20, 2022

T2T staff, volunteers, Board members, and partner organizations compiled this post to honor Nicki for her five years of leadership of Table to Table:

This spring marked Nicki Ross’s fifth anniversary at Table to Table! Nicki began as T2T’s Executive Director in March of 2017. Through caring leadership and a passion for finding ways to connect an abundance of nutritious food to our neighbors, Nicki has guided our organization through major increases in pounds of food rescued, a pandemic, and a relocation during the pandemic – just to name a few milestones.

During Nicki’s leadership, Table to Table has grown from rescuing 1.8 million pounds of food a year to rescuing 2.4 million pounds each year. We’ve done this by increasing our number of food rescue routes by 43% – from 35 routes each week to 50 routes a week. Hundreds of volunteers contribute to T2T’s accomplishments through rescuing food on routes, preparing our fleet, assisting with office needs, harvesting produce at local farms, planning fundraisers, and gifting their skills and talents for special projects that build T2T’s capacity to do good work for our community.

“When Nicki took the helm at Table to Table, it was already a respected, established organization, but it has risen to new heights under her leadership,” writes Charlotte Fairlie, T2T food rescue route volunteer. “The office is alive with a talented, expanding staff, whose hard work and ideas have led to new initiatives, such as last summer’s [produce] pop-ups. The network of community connections has spread, leading to an effective synergy among agencies.”

That synergy has benefited the entire Johnson County hunger relief network. Close relationships with recipient partners allow T2T to meet current needs to the best of our ability as quickly as possible. Coralville Community Food Pantry Executive Director John Boller shares: “Nicki is one of the most genuine, compassionate, and collaboration-focused nonprofit leaders that I know.”

In 2020, one result of Nicki’s collaborative efforts was the founding of the Iowa Gleaning Network to rescue farm crops and increase Iowans’ fresh produce resources. And T2T collaborations with community partners have led to produce pop-up distributions in neighborhoods to share high-nutrient foods while reducing barriers to food access. T2T has also prioritized collecting dairy, meat, and produce – valuable items for pantries – and increased those by more than 30% overall in the past five years. These efforts continued during the pandemic.

In 2020, Nicki wrote: “Letting any nutritious food go to waste at a time when some of our hunger relief partners were serving double and triple the number of people in need is simply unacceptable.” Reflecting on the first year of the pandemic: “For our neighbors enduring this health and financial crisis, T2T deliveries are the difference between families nourishing themselves with good protein, fresh fruits, and veggies or filling their bellies with food that is plentiful, cheap, and far less nutritious. During this time, T2T delivered enough food for at least one nutritious meal per day for every food insecure family in Johnson County.”

Nicki on a winter food rescue route with T2T staff and volunteers — T2T volunteers and staff rescue food in every season!

What makes Nicki a strong leader? “Her ability to have a real vision of what our organization can be, along with the ability to see and be aware of all the details that need to be addressed,” says Tom Jepson, T2T volunteer and former Board member. “I don’t know that I have come across a leader that has those two traits together.”

“It’s difficult to believe she has only been with Table to Table for 5 years–she leads like a veteran decision-maker and has guided the organization to exciting new heights in such a short amount of time,” John Boller adds.

“Also of note is the fact that Nicki was chosen as the Outstanding Executive Director by the United Way in only her second year in our community,” Tom Jepson points out.

Food rescue depends on the people behind it. “As a volunteer, I feel valued,” says Mary Kelley, who volunteers on a weekly Friday route with her husband Mike, and recently joined the Table to Table Board of Directors. Volunteers now collectively contribute 20,000 hours to T2T’s mission per year, their numbers having grown by 80% since 2017.

“Besides the statistics that provide evidence of Nicki’s success, I would add that, equally importantly, she fosters a cheerful, welcoming atmosphere in the office,” says Charlotte Fairlie. The supportive and welcoming culture Nicki has helped foster at T2T comes back to her appreciation for the T2T team of staff and volunteers.

In 2021, Nicki wrote: “Let me express one more time gratefulness for our T2T team and the staff and volunteers of all our partners who work tirelessly. Their commitment was unbowed by the sustained adversity of this year. Their work, guided by their hearts, their creativity, and courage allowed us to innovate and lead. I am incredibly proud to see them do what sometimes seems impossible.”

“Nicki constantly strives to make things better… she inspires all of us to do our best!” Mary Kelley adds.

We’d like to echo John Boller’s closing sentiment: “Here’s to another 5 years!”

Talk with Nicki and T2T staff in person at our 25th Anniversary Dinner! Ticket sales for this fundraiser help us do critical work in redistributing abundance to our neighbors. Get yours here!

Farewell and Happy Trails, Emily!

Table to Table/News, Team News /staff /

October 30, 2021

After 5 years with Table to Table, Food Rescue Program Manager Emily Meister has accepted an exciting new opportunity as Eastern Iowa Regional Director of the National Farm Worker Program with Proteus. Proteus provides support services and medical care to migrant farm workers.

Emily originally joined the T2T team as a food rescue route volunteer in 2015 and transitioned from part-time staff to Food Rescue Program Manager in 2017. She’s brought her compassionate manner and dedication to eliminating food waste to each of her roles at T2T.

With Emily at the helm of route logistics and donor/client relations, we’ve increased food distribution from 1.8 million pounds of food to 2.4 million pounds each year. She has increased our number of regular food rescue routes by 25% and led several new initiatives that contribute to this incredible growth. These initiatives include expanding food sourcing opportunities to include the entire life cycle of food, from harvesting directly from farms and gardens to building relationships with food transport drivers who pass by Iowa City regularly and recovering food directly from food processors.

In her time at T2T, Emily has seized every opportunity to improve services and expand access to food throughout Johnson County. With these experiences under her belt, she’s going to be a great asset to Proteus and we wish her the best!

Join us for a farewell gathering at Big Grove on Wednesday, November 10th from 4pm to 6pm.

We are now accepting applications for the Program Manager role. Read more about the role and the qualities of the candidate we’re looking for here.

Emily Meister Celebrates 5 years on the T2T Staff Team

Table to Table/News, Team News /staff /

April 30, 2021

This week marks Emily Meister’s 5 year anniversary as a member of the Table to Table staff. Emily originally joined the team as a food rescue route volunteer in 2015 and transitioned from part-time staff to Food Rescue Program Manager in 2017. She’s brought her compassionate manner and dedication to eliminating food waste to each of her roles at T2T.

Through her strong relationships with our community partners, Emily sees the impact wholesome food can have on our neighbors,

“Table to Table serves a youth program that said they had never given the kids zucchini, but they’d try it. Now, they take some every time we have it. A local mental health service said that feeding people encourages them to attend group support that they need. They may not have come otherwise. The domestic violence shelter helps people stabilize by providing for their basic needs so residents can focus on accessing critical support services. A few years ago when we increased our deliveries to the shelter, they were able to hire staff with money saved from T2T food deliveries.”

Courtesy of TRAIL

When you hear her talk about food waste, it’s easy to see what drives her.

“We can make an impact far beyond the environmental implications or simply putting food in someone’s belly. This is not just wasted food, but a wasted opportunity. An opportunity to provide safety and comfort to individuals in maybe the worst situation they’ve ever been in. An opportunity to provide stability and companionship to someone experiencing a mental health crisis. An opportunity to expand kids’ food repertoire and potentially impact their good choices and overall health for the rest of their lives. That’s a big deal. We can play our part in that by striving to do this one thing–recover good quality food.”

In her time at T2T, Emily has seized every opportunity to improve services and expand access to food throughout Johnson County.

Check out her tips for rescuing your fridge food, making the most of leftovers, or watch her prep a delicious tuna salad with “ugly” produce.

Frank Lalor Retiring after 25 Years in Service of Food Recovery and Hunger Relief

Table to Table/News, Team News /staff /

April 21, 2021

Twenty-five years ago retired teacher and leader, Frank Lalor, helped found Table to Table, Iowa’s first food rescue organization. Imagine, wrapping up an incredible career as an educator and deciding to dedicate the next 25 years to improving the community in a new way. Table to Table has been yet another educational endeavor for Frank, a lifelong learner. What is a community food rescue program, if not first and foremost an endeavor to educate people on food waste and hunger?

Together, Frank and a group of community leaders sought to alleviate hunger in our community while also reducing the environmental impact of food waste. Frank speaks of its inception as “merely a good idea whose time had come.” Frank’s son, Jerry, remembers that first donor phone call in Frank and Jeanette’s kitchen when Frank exclaimed “Hot Dog! We got one!”

Since his first delivery in the family station wagon in 1996, Frank’s passion and commitment to the work has never waned. He has continued to work with Table to Table in our daily mission, serving as the liaison to Iowa City Free Lunch Program and collecting ingredients for a well-rounded meal for more than 100 Free Lunch diners per day. He also delivers donations from key partners and has delivered more than 60,000 pounds of food a year on his routes. Most years, Table to Table rescued food 365 days because Frank showed up every single day to deliver any food remaining in storage. Empty refrigerators at T2T are a hallmark of the operation. We built upon Frank’s example to ensure all of the food we collect is delivered to people who will eat it by the end of the day.

Over the years, Frank has helped build a coalition of 50 nonprofit partners, 100+ food donors, and hundreds of community volunteers. At the end of each year, staff have come to look forward to Frank’s short retrospective,

“It’s been another good year! We filled all 365 days with at least one pick-up and delivery. Congratulations to us all–staff and volunteers–for this remarkable and satisfying achievement! We have done well in meeting our mission: of collecting and distributing food for the hungry, homeless, and others at risk.”

Buoyed by his constant encouragement, volunteers have delivered 25 million pounds of food and fed tens of thousands of our neighbors.

With this incredible milestone met, Frank is retiring from his role at Table to Table. In his announcement, Frank shared this message for those continuing his work,

Since we can’t yet convene in celebration of Frank and all of his incredible work, please consider writing a note to Frank and sending it to Table to Table. You can submit your message in a variety of ways on this page. We will deliver your well-wishes and appreciation to him.

Stay tuned for additional ways we will recognize Frank as we celebrate him and 25 amazing years.