Melanie Menken, President & Treasurer (since 2010)
Melanie Menken founded Booster Pak in 2010. As President, she is responsible for raising public awareness about hunger in our community, fundraising and marketing and promotion. She also supervises and trains many of the volunteers that are needed each week to keep Booster Pak going.
A Davenport native, she is a graduate of the University of Iowa with a BA in accounting. She is a CPA (retired) and has worked in public accounting, banking and insurance. Melanie lives in Clive with her husband, Dennis and has two grown sons, John and Jacob.
Lisa Phillips, Vice President (since 2012)
Lisa Phillipps became involved with Booster Pak in 2011 as a parent volunteer driver for Crossroads Park Elementary. The next year she joined the Board of Directors and became the coordinator for the K-6 program. She participates in the weekly packing for the district’s eight elementary schools along with volunteers from the Stilwell I-Care program, orders food from and prepares reports for the Food Bank of Iowa, and communicates with school staff and parent and community volunteers.
Originally from Clear Lake, Lisa received her BS degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from Buena Vista University. She and her husband, Mike, have two children. Katie is a 2014 graduate of Valley High School and is a student at Oklahoma State University. Jacob attends Valley High School. Whenever time allows, Lisa likes to travel, relax with family and friends, watch sports, and read.
Lori Van Lo, Secretary (since 2019)
Lori is a stay at home mom with 3 children. Lori has a passion for kids and our food insecurity mission. She works with the Food Bank of Iowa, DMARC, Hy-Vee and other local businesses and vendors to assure our students receive high quality food at low cost.
Chelsey Houston, Program Coordinator (since 2019)
Chelsey is a stay at home mom with two children. She loves to bake, garden and volunteer. Chelsey joined Booster Pak in 2019 after answering one of our calls for volunteer leaders. She works closely with Lisa Phillips, our building coordinators and volunteer drivers to make sure we have inventory and that we get packs delivered to schools on time each week.
Willow Kriegel (since 2021)
Willow has a B.S. from Iowa State University in Dietetics/Dietitian. She has been the Nutrition Services Director for the West Des Moines Community Schools since 2013..
Shahna Janssen (since 2010)
Shahna Janssen serves as the Director of Community Education for the West Des Moines Community School District. The Community Education department was established in 1974 and serves the needs of the community by connecting people, ideas and resources.
Shahna is an active member of her community. She currently serves on the Board of Booster Pak, chairs the Substance Abuse Prevention Community Coalition, and serves on the advisory committee for the Youth Justice Initiative. Shahna previously served on the Board of Directors of Iowa Senior Olympics, the Iowa Community Education Association, and the Iowa Board of Substance Abuse Certification.
Shahna graduated for the University of Northern Iowa with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Family Life Education. She spent 10 years working in the field of substance abuse prevention before joining the West Des Moines Community School District in 2007.
At Large Board Members
Stephanie Benge (since 2019)
Stephanie is 2nd Vice President Loan Auditor at West Bank. Stephanie has a passion for kids and food insecurity. She started as a volunteer driver for Crestview Elementary. She also organized West Bank volunteers to distribute paks at Crestview Elementary as part of our summer program.
Jeff Dick (since 2014)
Jeff is a Director a McGowen, Hurst, Clark & Smith PC in West Des Moines. Jeff has a BS in Accounting & Finance from Iowa State University. Jeff joined Booster Pak after organizing a fundraising event for Booster Pak as part of a class project with the West Des Moines Leadership Academy.
John Myers (since 2014)
John Myers is a marketing and communications professional in Des Moines, Iowa. He enjoys being active in the community and has served as a volunteer and board member for Rebuilding Together Greater Des Moines and the ALS Association. He learned about Booster Pak through his wife, Mindi, who is a teacher in the West Des Moines school district.