DC Central Kitchen is a nationally recognized "community kitchen" that recycles food from around

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, 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 José Ramón Andrés Puerta (born 13 July 1969) is a Spanish chef, and founder of World Central Kitchen (WCK), a non-profit devoted to providing meals in the wake of natural disasters. A Spanish-born and raised cook, he is often credited with br ...

serves on the board.

History

DC Central Kitchen was founded in 1989 by

Robert Egger Robert Egger is an American nonprofit leader, author, speaker and activist in the culinary field. Egger founded the DC Central Kitchen in 1989, a nationally recognized "community kitchen" that collects leftover food from hospitality businesses an ...

. Egger was working in the bar/

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

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 George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

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

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL) ...

teamed up with SuperFD Catering to create a cookbook pledging to donate one hundred percent of the proceeds from sales to DC Central Kitchen. 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.

References

External links

DC Central Kitchen's WebsiteProfile of Robert Egger on How To Make a Difference
* ttp://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0225/p16s01-lihc.html Catering With Conscience - The Christian Science Monitor {{Authority control Non-profit organizations based in Washington, D.C. Organizations established in 1989 1989 establishments in Washington, D.C.