We are so close to better days. In the past 14 months, DC Central Kitchen has forged ahead through the worst of this crisis, serving over 3.8 million emergency meals and bringing healthy groceries to over 200 locations across our city. We’ve fought day in and day out, together, to reach this point – but returning to normal simply isn’t an option. Disparities in health and economic opportunity in our city are wider than ever and rates of food insecurity have skyrocketed, particularly among children and seniors.
As we prepare to welcome better and brighter days, DC Central Kitchen is also ready to “spring” into action with these ambitious and exciting new initiatives:
- Deploying two new DC Central Kitchen food trucks to bring a wider variety of meals to locations with large concentrations of food insecure children and seniors. Investing in two new food trucks will let us provide the types of meals and dignified serving environments our neighbors have requested in locations they can easily access. And in the long-term, these assets will help us provide hands-on training and entrepreneurship assistance to our students interested in food truck opportunities.
- Maximizing the spring and summer growing season by working with more than 70 local family farmers to meet increased community demand for fresh fruits and vegetables and partnering with local farmers to enhance and sustain our grocery distribution efforts. In addition, we’ve re-engineering our large-scale grocery distribution activities to include more proteins, whole grains, and frozen vegetables in direct response to requests from parents and seniors.
- Opening our second job training café in partnership with the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library. This new café will expand our capacity to prepare our neighbors for meaningful careers while immediately creating 18 living-wage jobs for DC Central Kitchen graduates. Set to open this summer as health conditions allow, we will unveil a José Andrés-designed menu while offering training on customer service, point-of-management, and barista skills in a 4,000 square foot café in DC’s flagship public library. Named in honor of our beloved former director of job training Marianne Ali, Marianne’s by DC Central Kitchen will embody her uncompromising belief in the fundamental dignity and value of everyone in our community.
We are dedicated to continuing our work, investing in the health, wellness, and economic future of our neighbors who have borne the brunt of this crisis. Will you help ensure none of our neighbors are left behind with a generous gift today? All donations made by May 31 will be doubled by long-time DC Central Kitchen supporter Craig Newmark! Questions? Be in touch with our Giving Team at giving@dccentralkitchen.org or 202-847-0222.