DC Central Kitchen, Inc.
425 Second Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001
(202) 234-0707 x 101
regger@dccentralkitchen.org
Robert Egger is a Founder and President of the DC Central Kitchen. At the Kitchen, food donated by local foodservice businesses is used to fuel the Kitchen's nationally recognized culinary arts job training program, where unemployed men and women learn marketable skills while donations are converted into balanced meals. Everyday, the Kitchen safely recovers almost 2 tons of food and prepares and delivers 4,000 meals, helping nonprofit partners save millions of dollars annually. Since opening, the Kitchen has distributed 16 million meals, and helped over 500 men and women gain full-time employment.
In addition, the Kitchen operates two businesses, Fresh Start Catering and Contract Foods, which employs graduates and generates income that underwrites a portion of the training program.
Robert is also the founder of Kitchens In National Cooperation, which allows 75 independent "community kitchens" to share entrepreneurial strategies via the web (www.kitchensinc.org), as well as providing start-up information to any interested community. The Kitchen's newest program, the Campus Kitchen Project (www.campuskitchens.org), operates similar community kitchen programs in high school and university dining halls and cafeterias, utilizing student volunteers to cook and distribute meals.
Robert's work, and the work of the Kitchen, has been recognized both nationally and internationally. He is the 2004 recipient of the James Beard Foundation's Humanitarian of the Year award, as well as having been named an "Oprah Angel", a Washingtonian of the Year and one of the "Ten Most Caring People in America", by the Caring Institute. He is also a 12-gallon donor to the American Red Cross.
Robert's book on the non-profit sector, Begging for Change, The Dollars and Sense of Making Nonprofits Responsive, Efficient and Rewarding For All, was released this year by HarperCollins Business.