Latest Review
Mission
The mission of DC Central Kitchen is to use food as a tool to:
-Empower Minds, by providing culinary job training for unemployed men and women and community service opportunities for youth
-Strengthen Bodies, by safely recovering unserved food from local foodservice businesses to feed children and adults at partner agencies throughout the greater Washington, DC area.
-Build Communities, by providing working examples, innovative solutions, and shared technology to a cooperative and effective national network of programs that use food to make change in their communities.
Key Facts
Target demographics:
Homeless, unemployed, and formerly incarcerated adults in the DC area.
Other DC nonprofit organizations that can benefit from the time, money, and energy they save from having our food delivered instead of making it themselves. This includes senior centers, children’s after school programs, drug rehab centers, homeless shelters, transitional housing, and schools for at-risk youth.
Results to date:
4500 meals per day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. For 20 years.
An average of 40-45 students per year graduating from the Culinary Job Training program and going on to gain employment with a living wage, and the confidence to take control of their futures.
Placing over 40 men and women who were living on the streets of DC into permanent supportive housing through our First Helping Homeless Outreach program and our partnership with the city government and Housing First .
Board Members and Affiliation:
Robert Egger, Founder and President
Marie Tibor, Chair, Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington
Jose Andres, Chair Emeritus, ThinkFoodGroup Inc
Lynne Breaux, Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington
Jim Burke, Sodexho USA
Josh Carin, Geppetto Catering
Gil Crawford, MicroVest Capital Management, LLC
Ken Crerar, The Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers
Xavier Deshayes, Executive Chef- Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center
Paul Fields, Restaurant Development Services
Michael Freedman, Geiman, Rosenberg & Freedman
Tiffany Godbout, Hotel Association of Washington DC
Ryland Johnson, Zola Restaurant
David Kassir, Georgetown Private Cliente
LaShon Kell, Bracewell & Giuliani LLP
Jodie L. Kelley, Fannie Mae
Rev. Ray Kemp, Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University
Sam LeBlanc, Balancing Act
Ris Lacoste, Chef and Restaurateur
Chance Patterson, XM Satelitte Radio
Barton Seaver, Chef and Sustainability Consultant
Michael L. Stewart, DCCK CJT Program Graduate
Geoffrey Stricker, Clark Construction
Twanda Thomas, Martha’s Table, DCCK CJT Graduate
Rosetta Thurman, The Nonprofit Roundtable
Nancy Torray, Robert E. Torray and Anne P. Torray Family Foundation
Rob Wilder, Chair Emeritus, ThinkFoodGroup Inc.
Rhonda Willingham, MenzFit
Key Staff
Robert Egger, President and Founder
Michael Curtin, CEO
Glenda Cognevich, Chief Financial Officer
Frances Reed, Chief Operating Officer
Brian MacNair, Chief Development Officer
Jerald Thomas, Director of Kitchen Operations
Marianne Ali, Director of Culinary Job Training Program
Michael Friedman, Partner Relations Manager (including Healthy Returns)
Dean Wartti, Director of Revenue Generating Programs (Fresh Start Catering, Capital Carts)
Hilary Espinosa, First Helping Homeless Outreach Manager
Description
Recovers unused, surplus food, prepares 4,000 meals a day for 100 social service agencies serving homeless in DC, while incorporating job training and employment services.