DC Central Kitchen

DC Central Kitchen is a nationally recognized "community kitchen" that recycles food from around Washington, D.C. and uses it as a tool to train unemployed adults to develop work skills while providing thousands of meals for local service agencies in the process. Chef José Andrés serves on the board.[1]

DC Central Kitchen
Formation1989
TypeNon-profit
PurposeFood recycling
Location
Official language
English
Websitedccentralkitchen.org

History

DC Central Kitchen was founded in 1989 by Robert Egger.[2][3] Egger was working in the bar/nightclub scene in DC when he and his wife were talked into volunteering with a church group that bought food to prepare and distribute from the back of a van. Its first major food recovery was from the 1989 inaugural party for President George H. W. Bush.

That same year, DC Central Kitchen started a culinary training program.[4][5] In 2011, the organization started its Healthy Corners Initiative in an effort to bring affordable produce to low-income neighborhoods.[6]

In 2017, the organization joined with The Craig Newmark Philanthropic Fund to run a matching campaign during the Campus Kitchens Project fundraising challenge, "Raise the Dough."[7] That same year, the Washington Capitals teamed up with SuperFD Catering to create a cookbook pledging to donate one hundred percent of the proceeds from sales to DC Central Kitchen.[8]

Since its creation, the Kitchen has served over 21 million meals, graduated over 700 formerly homeless men and women from its Culinary Job Training program, and replicated its model on college and high-school campuses through its program The Campus Kitchen Project.[9]

References
  1. Superville, Darlene. "Obama to pitch immigration at citizenship ceremony". TheState.com. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  2. "'Without Empathy, Nothing Works.' Chef José Andrés Wants to Feed the World Through the Pandemic". Time. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  3. Mendoza, M. K. "The Father of Social Enterprise-An Inevitable Vision-Robert Egger from DC Central Kitchen-Part Two". www.ksfr.org. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  4. "History". Dccentralkitchen.org. Archived from the original on 2014-08-30. Retrieved 2014-10-02.
  5. Newmark, Craig (August 24, 2016). "How Culinary Programs Replace Homelessness, Addiction, and Incarceration in DC". HuffPost. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  6. "DC Hunger Solutions: Healthy Corner Store Program". dchunger.org. Archived from the original on 2016-11-02. Retrieved 2017-04-08.
  7. Newmark, Craig (2017-03-15). "How One Nonprofit Redistributes Unwanted Food to Fight Hunger". HuffPost. Retrieved 2017-04-08.
  8. "Review: The "Cooking With the Caps" Cookbook is Awesome". Capitals Outsider. 2017-03-28. Retrieved 2017-04-08.
  9. "DC Central Kitchen, Inc. nonprofit in Washington, DC | Volunteer, Read Reviews, Donate | GreatNonprofits". greatnonprofits.org. Retrieved 2017-04-11.
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