DC Central Kitchen, along with Washington Nationals Philanthropies, was honored by the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition at their 2024 Council Awards. DCCK was given the Community Leadership Award, which celebrates leaders who are building more vibrant and thriving communities through sports, physical activity, fitness, and nutrition-related programs.
“We are proud to recognize DC Central Kitchen & Washington Nationals Philanthropies for the work they have done to consistently promote opportunities for individuals to lead healthy lifestyles through multiple programs,” says Rayhaan Merani, Executive Director of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition. “Because of DC Central Kitchen & Washington Nationals Philanthropies’ meaningful efforts and impactful contributions, we are one step closer to improving the physical fitness, health, and nutrition of all Americans.”
DC Central Kitchen & Washington Nationals Philanthropies were honored for uplifting the community, contributing to the community’s overall well-being and supporting community members’ potential to thrive. We’ve done this work through multiple partnerships. We’ve been working together since 2018 to take on food insecurity, chronic diet-related disease, and disparities in access to healthy food through innovative interventions producing major dividends for our city. DCCK has led cooking classes at Nationals Academy state-of-the-art teaching kitchen, fed Academy Scholar Athletes in the BASE afterschool program and earlier this year, the Academy opened a Healthy Corner store in partnership with DCCK.
“Washington Nationals Philanthropies is grateful to partner with DC Central Kitchen in an effort to improve health outcomes by closing the food security gap between Wards 6, 7, and 8 and the rest of the District,” says Kelly Decerbo, Senior Director of Marketing for Washington Nationals Philanthropies.
“For more than a decade, our partnership with Washington Nationals Philanthropies and the Youth Baseball Academy has creatively merged powerful food access efforts with best-in-class sports-based youth development programs,” says Mike Curtin Jr., DC Central Kitchen CEO. “Together, we are creating opportunities for DC youth to achieve their potential in the classroom, on the field, and in our community, and we are excited for the ways this prestigious award from the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition will help us grow and deepen our partnership across the District.”