NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In 1989, Robert Egger abandoned his dream of opening
a night club in favor of opening a soup kitchen to feed the homeless,
and the DC Central Kitchen was born.
Egger will talk about his experiences in the non-profit sector on
Wednesday, Feb. 16, at Vanderbilt. The talk will begin at 6:15 p.m. in
Wilson Hall Room 103 and is free and open to the public.
The DC Central Kitchen in Washington, D.C., has become a national model
for non-profits in two ways: first, the staff collects surplus,
unserved food from hotels, restaurants and corporate cafeterias; and
second, members of the homeless community themselves prepare the 4,000
meals the kitchen serves each day after first enrolling in a 12-week
job-training program under the supervision of professional chefs.
What Egger has learned from his years running the DC Central Kitchen and what he writes about in his book, Begging for Change: The Dollars and Sense of Making Nonprofits Responsive, Efficient and Rewarding For All, is this: “Non-profits must stop chasing money and start focusing on the true work at hand.”
Egger is the 2004 recipient of the James Beard Foundation‘s
Humanitarian of the Year award and has been named an “Oprah‘s Angel”
and a “Washingtonian of the Year.” His talk is sponsored by the Office
of Active Citizenship and Service at Vanderbilt.
For more information, contact Carolyn Audet at carolyn.m.audet@vanderbilt.edu.
Media contact: Kara Furlong, (615) 322-NEWS
kara.c.furlong@vanderbilt.edu