As Luke steps away from the Iowa Hunger Coalition to take on his next adventure in Alaska, we are overjoyed to announce that John Boller, Executive Director of the Coralville Community Food Pantry, will be the next Board Chair of the Iowa Hunger Coalition!
John is an incredible hunger fighter who has not only been a valuable member of the board for over 7 years but has also been instrumental in helping to organize grassroots anti-hunger advocates in his community through the Johnson County Food Access Network.
“I am so excited for John to take the reins of IHC,” said Luke Elzinga, outgoing Board Chair of the Iowa Hunger Coalition. “John’s passion and dedication to not only addressing the immediate food needs of Iowans, but pushing for systemic change, is contagious. He and the rest of IHC’s board and network of advocates are poised to advance the anti-hunger movement in Iowa to the next level. I couldn’t be prouder.”
We know that the Iowa Hunger Coalition has built a movement to end hunger in Iowa that is far larger than any one person, and we are honored to have John stepping up to lead our continued fight to ensure all people in Iowa have access to the food they need to grow and thrive. John is taking on this role with the same enthusiasm, passion, and dedication he shows every day while serving his community members who are struggling to put food on the table:
“When I joined the Iowa Hunger Coalition in 2019, I didn’t know a lick about anti-hunger policy. I was passionate about chipping away at root causes of hunger, but it was colleagues like Luke Elzinga, Natalie Veldhouse, and Paige Chickering that inspired and empowered me to gain a deeper understanding of how the sausage gets made in Des Moines & DC—and most importantly, how those policies directly impact what I see daily in my community. Expanding my policy knowledge over the years has made me a more effective food pantry director and anti-hunger advocate.
Having a Luke Elzinga in your life is a luxury. In the context of this coalition, Luke has simultaneously been the engaging, attentive teacher and the hardworking student who happily did the heavy lifting in group projects. In my mind, he has been Iowa’s most influential hunger fighter this decade. And he did it all with humility, compassion, and a genuine desire to support everyone on their quest to fight for a brighter future in Iowa.
The goal of the IHC board isn’t to replace Luke. That simply isn’t possible. While we remain committed to providing valuable policy analysis and timely action alerts, we believe the smartest path forward is to invest in you. We want every single person on the frontlines of food insecurity to feel supported and united in a collective vision to end hunger in Iowa. We want you to be the Luke Elzinga of your community, your neighborhood, your pantry. We want your local lawmakers to know you by name and to answer when you call.
How do we get there?
It starts with building trust, sharing stories, and showing up for one another as we navigate an unprecedented moment in which safety net programs are being dismantled while food insecurity continues to surge.
I hope you’ll join us in this fight. We’re going to need every single one of us.”
You can reach John by reaching out to iowahungercoalition@gmail.com.