Why do service?

We asked, and the volunteers that arrived at DC Central Kitchen to serve in honor of the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001 responded.

So did some of DC Central Kitchen’s employees who were actually in the kitchen preparing meals when the attacks began. All of those featured in the video below found themselves in different places, thinking about different consequences. Thinking back to the incident 10 years before, each also felt separately compelled to serve – and make 9000 meals with DC Central Kitchen – in remembrance.

In the end, most sentiments were echoed by one volunteer, who said, “Today, if nothing else, we remember how much we mean to each other. And how doing things like this can spread that and give others that sense of humanity and hopefulness we felt that day.”

Why do you serve with a Campus Kitchen or somewhere else? What do you hope to accomplish?

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President Obama, First Lady Michelle, and daughters Malia and Sasha helped prepare healthy gumbo and local corn on Saturday to go out to local social services agencies in Washington, D.C.

President Obama described DC Central Kitchen as “an incredible program,” highlighting the impact of the Culinary Job Training program. Read more about the visit and see pictures on the DC Central Kitchen website.

Service didn’t stop with the Presidential visit. On Sunday, dozens of volunteers filtered through DC Central Kitchen to chop, core, stir, and package 9,000 meals as part of remembering through service. Representatives from the U.S. Navy, Bloomberg, and the USDA and others attended the event.

What they made:

• 1000 lbs of potatoes
•  800 fruit cups and 800 salad cups for seniors
• 25 pans of chicken
• 70 lbs of pasta for senior meals this week
• 15 pans of corn medley
•  3 Lexan containers of bread for garlic bread
• 15 pans of melon
• 50 heads of Cabbage
• Baked muffins and cleaned up for the midnight shift.

Volunteers took time to reflect during meal breaks on what they were doing on September 11, 2001 and why they chose to do service as a way of remembering. View their hard work in the slideshow below.

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Connecting local farmers with underserved communities. Teaching teenage mothers how to serve affordable, healthy meals to their children. Meeting weekly with a senior citizen to share a hot meal and company.

This type of innovative hunger relief work doesn’t need to end with your final Campus Kitchen shift; it can continue into graduate work, or perhaps a social enterprise venture to better your community.

Take, for instance, a group of social entrepreneurs from the Bainbridge Graduate Institute who grew an idea from a shipping crate. The Bainbridge Graduate Institute, located on a small island in Washington State, nurtures business leaders with the purpose of driving social change in one of society’s most powerful institutions.

That’s where the group behind Stockbox Grocers first tossed around the initial ideas that formed the project. The result: a miniature, convenient market tucked inside a reclaimed shipping container, placed in a parking lot near you.

Stockbox Grocers is beginning to develop these fresh food markets in Seattle food deserts, starting in 2012 with a parking lot of an apartment building. Residents there must travel 45 minutes by bus to reach a grocery store that provides sufficient access to healthy fruits and vegetables.

The Stockbox Grocery will open right outside their doorsteps for two months to test the key concepts of the Stockbox business model.

Robert Egger, Founder of The Campus Kitchens Project and DC Central Kitchen, recently visited The Bainbridge Graduate Institute and shared the Kickstarter fundraiser to drum up funds for this new project on his Facebook page

Now’s your chance to support social entrepreneurs (ahem, your future selves) by sharing this piece with your networks and/or giving what you can. Just like you, these do-gooders are thinking outside the (reclaimed shipping crate) box.

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Seeking: a passionate researcher, lover of food, champion of justice, promoter of empowerment, and fixer of broken lives.

Cooking is not just a means to an end for serving 5000 plus meals each day at DC Central Kitchen. Cooking is woven into the fabric the organization’s mission to Feed the Soul of the City.

The threads that pull the program together are woven from DC Central Kitchen’s Culinary Job Training program, which enrolls 25 unemployed, underemployed, or formerly incarcerated men and women each 16-week course cycle and prepares them for the food industry through a holistic approach.

After competing in culinary challenges, testing their knife skills at off-site internships, and passing the National Restaurant Association’s ServSafe examination, students actively seek employment with help from the Culinary Job Training staff.

Ready to become part of the Culinary Job Training team as an AmeriCorps VISTA? DC Central Kitchen is currently seeking a full-time AmeriCorps VISTA to complete a year of service, assisting in all of the steps of the process. From student recruitment and intake, to curriculum development, through workforce development and graduate support. You’ll leave a lasting effect on the program’s ability to grow and serve more, but more importantly: you’ll become familiar with inspiring groups of men and women.

Your cup of tea? Apply through the AmeriCorps VISTA portal now for a chance to join a team that uses food as a tool for so much more.

Read more about Culinary Job Training at DC Central Kitchen and view the job description below.

A. Student Recruitment & Intake

•    Research DC metro-area programs that provide services to women and compile statistics on prison releases according to gender break-down (from Department of Justice);
•    Work with CJT staff to develop and update a list of student recruitment sites focusing on ex-offenders and female candidates;
•    Revise current candidate scorecard forms to fit data and outcomes determined by Director of Core Programs;
•    Update Intake Documents to better reflect scorecard;
•    Build / create intake data base that include demographic information relating to applicants;
•    Fax / Email recruitment sites flyers, program start dates, invitations to intake information breakfast (happens 4 times per year);
•    Develop invitation list, materials and program for the intake and sponsor agency breakfasts.

B. Curriculum Development

•    Research local facilities that have available commercial kitchen space for use by CJT program;
•    Develop list with CJT program manager to reach out to vendors and facilities to schedule time for CJT students to use off-site locations;
•    Assist CJT program manager with updating culinary curricula to coincide with new modules;
•    Identify new internship sites, administer internship questionnaire and schedule site visits with CJT program manager to assess suitability;
•    Identify and contact guest/volunteer instructors to help develop culinary skills in students beyond the culinary basics taught in class (e.g. molecular gastronomy, master bakers);
•    Schedule volunteer instructors for class time with students and develop skill-based instruction manual based on classes;
•    Assist CJT program manager with planning class events such as the class cook-off, the World’s Fare cooking event and student graduation.

C. Workforce Development & Graduate Support

•    Enter student information into data base for reporting;
•    Identify community chef mentors for students to consult with during their CJT lessons, during internships, the job search period of the class and beyond graduation;
•    Identify services/organizations beyond social services that will help students and graduates with their job search, finishing an education, learning new skills etc. (e.g. identify and schedule computer lab time and instructors);
•    Research venues and programmatic ideas for annual alumni gathering;
•    Assist with development of invitations, program components, menus and sponsors for alumni event.
•    Assist With alumni follow-up information and stats and outcome charts and graphs
•    Assist with the planning of Annual Alumni Event

D. Reports / Documents

•    Assist Program Director in generating annual goals for CJT program;
•    Assist Workforce Development Coordinator with creating stats needed for quarterly reports and develop CJT Board Report on quarterly basis;
•    Develop monthly notes/tracking documents for Core Program Director and other DCCK Staff to review with CEO.
QUALIFICATIONS/EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS

•    Minimum of a BA/BS;
•    Research and Analytic skills;
•    Strong writing and editing skills;
•    Strong organization skills and attention to detail;
•    Requires strong computer and Internet research skills, including experience with Microsoft Office Applications (Outlook, Word, Excel, and Power Point) and document creation software such Adobe Acrobat and Publisher is a plus.

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The goal: collect a pledge to serve simultaneously on the ten year anniversary of 9/11 from 1 million Americans. Hands On will support interested parties by providing resources on how to find a project, start a project, connect with others, and join the effort.

For those in driving distance to Washington, D.C., DC Central Kitchen will host a National Day of Remembrance and Service doing what it does best: cooking up healthy meals for area agencies from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. The meals will supplement the 5000 plus that go out each day.

With a goal of 9,000 meals, volunteer shifts for this marathon kitchen event on Sunday, September 11 remain open. Shifts run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. with lunch to follow, 2 to 6 p.m. with dinner to follow, and 7 to 11 p.m. The kitchen requires 25-30 volunteers to successfully run these shifts.

At meal times, staff who worked in DC Central Kitchen when the disaster struck will lead reflections on the need for service to continue the remembrance.

Hoping to participate in DC Central Kitchen’s 9/11 service? Sign up for shifts using the online calendar.

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A stream of black and white t-shirts flowed through Washington Convention Center halls yesterday as the Fancy Food Show closed shop. Hundreds of volunteers marched down the escalator steps and fanned out across aisles with one thing on their minds: find food.

The stream signaled the arrival of the DC Central Kitchen Food Recovery Team and the start of the kitchen’s largest recovery operation in its history.

No really. Fancy Food officials prepped DC Central Kitchen organizers (shout out to Stephen Kendall) for the rescue of over 100,000 pounds of food. 153 palettes overflowing with boxes later – they weren’t kidding.

DC Central Kitchen staff led the charge down aisles to solicit donations and vendors (think Chobani yogurt, Charm City Cakes, Cabot Creamery, Honest Tea,) graciously offered packaged food show leftovers they couldn’t take with them.

My team of volunteers packed up whole rabbit, hickory smoked bacon, chicken, sausage – even foie gras. D’artagnan, a New Jersey-based company, donated the all-natural, organic, and hormone-free meat to be used in the 5000-plus DC Central Kitchen meals that go out each day.

BelGioioso Cheese also unloaded two displays packed with mozzarella, provolone and ricotta tubs into our carts.

Volunteers came from as far away as Kansas (a mission trip lent a hand), but the most well-known volunteer appeared just as my team felt overloaded with perishable goods. Chef Jose Andres (above), with an entourage of DC Central Kitchen Culinary Job Training students came to the rescue at a chocolate vendor.

After loading up a cart and sending his entourage wheeling it down the endless hallways of the convention center, Andres hoisted an entire chocolate display over his head and finished the job.

And when the last palette received its saran wrap coating as the clock neared 9 p.m., volunteers knew they finished something GREAT.

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When booths go dark and attendees eat their last morsels Tuesday, July 12, 100,000 pounds of food remain untouched. That’s where DC Central Kitchen comes in.

The Fancy Food recovery event – with ghost pepper salsa and gelato squares (according to ABC News) – will become the largest donation in the kitchen’s history if carried out successfully.

For that success, DC Central Kitchen needs you.

Get a glimpse of the latest food fads and oddities while helping DC Central Kitchen feed the soul of the city through 5000 meals and counting. It only takes an afternoon/evening of your time.

Read more and sign up to volunteer here. Volunteers must be 18 or over and be able to commit to the entire 2 to 9 p.m. shift at the Washington Convention Center.

Recover this. (Flickr/h-bomb)

So we can serve it like this.

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Another burger battle is heating up in the metro area – and this time it’s DC Central Kitchen culinary students looking to smoke the competition.

Three teams of students will work the grills in the shiny, new kitchen stadium: Harry’s Smokehouse, to celebrate its grand opening as the second, Pentagon City Mall outpost to Harry’s Tap Room. A team of experienced judges including DC Central Kitchen Founder Robert Egger and Harry’s Executive Chef Alex Reyes will determine the champion.

The all-you-can-eat-and-drink event serves as a benefit for the life-changing Culinary Job Training program at DC Central Kitchen. Tickets are $25 at the door, and only $20 online if you buy in advance here.

In addition to the main event, servers will bring around heavy appetizers and pour wine. Port City Brewing Company will also provide samples of their signature beer. Appetizers include:

• St. Louis Cut Pork Ribs
• Hickory Smoked All Natural Pulled Chicken
• 12 Hour Smoked Pulled Pork
• Hickory Smoked Well Marbled Brisket Mini Sandwiches
• Cajun Catfish Nuggets
• Chipotle Chicken Wings
• Mini Desserts

Get your fill of smoked delicacies while checking out the new space and doing good for less than a price of a regular dinner out.

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Executive and Research Assistant

DC Central Kitchen (DCCK) turns leftover food into millions of meals for thousands of at-risk individuals while offering nationally recognized culinary job training to once homeless and hungry adults. Our mission is to use food as a tool to strengthen bodies, empower minds, and build communities. Our programs provide a comprehensive continuum of care to the people we serve.

The Executive and Research Assistant position requires the candidate to be self-motivated, detail-oriented and have the ability to multi-task and prioritize effectively. This position will report directly to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and will handle his scheduling logistics and relevant email correspondence, and voice mail messages, coordinate quarterly board meetings to make sure meeting runs smoothly, as well as prepare the board report and make sure all materials and location are ready for this meeting. Additionally this person will work with the CEO and senior management in identifying our measures of performance and will be the point person to implement and maintain our performance management system. He/She will be the main “cheer leader” making sure this system, related data entry and reports are effectively managed and produced.

Specific Responsibilities:

A. Research Assistant

• Work in close collaboration with CEO and Department heads to design and maintain our performance management system to monitor progress on desired participant and department measures of success
• Design specific data collection instruments such as surveys and assessments
• Work with CEO and Development Department to provide results based performance data for proposal writing, and with individual program staff to extract, upload, and interpret data for reporting requirements and presentation material
• Work with CEO on other research projects vital to the development of new social enterprise programs.

B. Board Assistant

• Prepare quarterly Board Report, both paper and power point presentation
• Work with CEO to ensure Board members receive all relevant documentation in advance of Board meetings
• Set-up Board Meeting, including meeting location, power point presentation and copies of Board meeting documentation.

C. Executive Assistant

• Manage CEO’s schedule
• Coordinate with bookkeeper to prepare and track invoices for travel reimbursement
• Manage CEO’s e-mail correspondence as well response to relevant voice mail
• Edit and create documents as necessary
• Transcribe and summarize minutes from CEO’s meetings (about five per week) and distribute to appropriate individuals within DCCK.

Qualifications Needed:

• Minimum of a BA/BS
• Research and Analytic skills
• Strong writing and editing skills
• Strong organization skills and attention to detail
• Requires strong computer and Internet research skills, including experience with Microsoft Office Applications (Outlook, Word, Excel, and Power Point) and document creation software such Adobe Acrobat and Publisher is a plus
• Ability to perform several tasks concurrently with ease and professionalism.

To Apply:

Interested candidates should send a cover letter with salary requirements and a resume to hr@dccentralkitchen.org. Submissions without salary requirements will not be considered.

For more information and a complete list of DCCK programs, please visit our website at www.dccentralkitchen.org

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Leaders from the service sector, including CEO of DC Central Kitchen Mike Curtin and staff from The Campus Kitchens Project, will come together to share solutions, best practices and lessons for achieving greater impact at the 2011 National Conference on Volunteering and Service (NCVS) in New Orleans, June 6-8.

The conference, convened by Points of Light Institute and the Corporation for National and Community Service, is the world’s largest gathering of volunteer and service leaders from the nonprofit, corporate and government sectors. This year’s event will provide nearly 4,000 Champions of Service with an opportunity to learn, connect and be inspired through a range of plenary sessions, workshops, special events, service projects and more.

“Service is fundamental to meeting the pressing issues of our time,” said Michelle Nunn, CEO of Points of Light Institute. “The National Conference on Volunteering and Service seeks to equip those at the heart of community progress with the tools to mobilize people, design and manage effective programs and cultivate a renewed ethic of service that recognizes that everyone can, and must, be part of the solution.”

This year’s conference also showcases the city of New Orleans as a laboratory for social innovation in areas reaching far beyond disaster recovery. Since 2005, millions of volunteers have helped address the city’s educational challenges, economic development issues and government leadership. NCVS will provide an opportunity to pay tribute to the impact of volunteerism on the revitalization of the city, demonstrating the critical role of service in improving communities and our nation at large.

This remarkable city and the entire Gulf coast offer an extraordinary example of the power of citizens to make a difference through service, said Mark Gearan, chair, Corporation for National and Community Service Board of Directors. Gathering in New Orleans underscores the power of people to emerge from disaster and challenge by joining together in action. At a time of great social need, service is a critical, cost-effective investment that taps our greatest resource the energy and ideas of our citizens to get things done.

NCVS attendees will hear from renowned presenters during multiple workshop blocks. More than 150 workshops, 11 immersion learning sessions and seven forums will be offered in focus areas ranging from disaster response to youth leadership. Expert presenters from the nonprofit, corporate and government sectors will engage participants in hands-on sessions to explore topics relevant to volunteerism and service.

“New Orleans uniquely understands the value of volunteer service to create change and build community,” said New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, chairman of the NCVS Host Committee. “We hope the attendees at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service are inspired and energized by our city and the innovative ideas and learning opportunities they will experience.”

Conference highlights include:
§         Signature Service Project, Monday, June 6, 8 a.m.
NCVS will serve as the final stop on University of Phoenix’s six-month Road to the Gulf program. The signature park restoration projects will be held at Sam Bonart Park in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. Volunteers will install new playground equipment, repair basketball courts, install sideline benches, build soccer fields, install lighting and beautify the park.
§         Public Participation in the Wake of Disaster, Monday, June 6, 1 p.m.
Join us for a discussion framed by retired Admiral Thad Allen on the importance of public participation in the wake of disaster. Admiral Allen will discuss his experience as U.S. Coast Guard Commander during Hurricane Katrina and the 201 Gulf oil spill. He and Joshua DuBois, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and Karen Baker, California secretary of service and volunteering, will discuss the value of acting now to build resilient communities across the country.
§         National Service General Session, Tuesday, June 7, 10:30 a.m.
Service is central to innovative approaches for solving community and national problems. Melody Barnes, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, and Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour will share ideas and highlights of the ground-breaking work being done to address pressing issues by partnering with government, leveraging service and incorporating volunteering to achieve impact throughout the nation.
§         Citizen Solutions for Economic Opportunity, Tuesday, June 7, 2 p.m.
Fostering and advancing economic opportunities in under-resourced communities is a constant challenge. Some communities have found success drawing on existing resources and the power of volunteers. At this session, sponsored by Chase, Diahann Billings-Burford, chief service officer for New York City, David Eisner, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center and MSNBC contributor and The Grio.com chief correspondent Jeff Johnson will discuss practices of asset-based community development and case studies of successful community programs will be highlighted.
§         Leaders Make the Future: Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World, Tuesday, June 7, 3 p.m.
An interactive conversation, sponsored by UPS and eBay, with a cross-section of leaders about the skills needed to be successful in a world characterized by volatility, complexity and ambiguity. Panelists including Dr. Hal Colston, executive director of the Vermont Commission on National and Community Service, Wendy Kopp, founder and CEO of Teach for America, and Max Stier, president and CEO of Partnership for Public Service will discuss their predictions for the future, the leadership frameworks they work within and how those frameworks lead to lasting impact in communities.
§         Innovate to Educate: Community Solutions for Education Success, Tuesday, June 7, 4 p.m.
This signature conference event, sponsored by Target, will highlight innovative citizen-driven solutions that are helping address the challenges facing America’s education system. It will showcase inspiring examples of community-based engagement that have resulted in tangible results for schools and students nationwide. Attendees will hear from featured speaker Soledad O’Brien, award-winning journalist and anchor for CNN’s special investigations unit, as well as community leaders who are collectively leading the charge for innovative education solutions.

The NCVS opening plenary session on Monday, June 6, will feature civil rights activist Ruby Bridges, a conversation between political consultants James Carville and Mary Matalin, moderated by ABC News correspondent Deborah Roberts, about the impact of service on their hometown of New Orleans, and special performances by Branford Marsalis and Roots of Music, a music program for New Orleans middle schoolers.

The closing session on Wednesday, June 8, features the presentation of a Presidential Volunteer Service award to actor and activist Rosario Dawson, performances by Grammy Award-winner Chris Thomas King and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Percy Sledge and the announcement of the 2012 NCVS host city, all hosted by comedian John Oliver from “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”

For more information on NCVS, please visit www.VolunteeringandService.org

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