[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8040]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   END HUNGER NOW--DC CENTRAL KITCHEN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, this week I joined my colleague 
Representative G.T. Thompson of Pennsylvania on a visit to DC Central 
Kitchen.
  G.T. serves as the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee's 
Nutrition Subcommittee, and I serve as the ranking Democratic member. 
Our committee oversees Federal nutrition and antihunger programs, 
including SNAP, our Nation's first line of defense against hunger in 
communities all across this country. I have been fortunate enough to 
work with the incredible staff, students, and volunteers of DC Central 
Kitchen, so I am so pleased G.T. was able to join us this week to 
experience firsthand the impact that this organization has on the D.C. 
community. I very much appreciate his commitment to nutrition and his 
support for antihunger initiatives.
  During our visit this week, we heard from the Kitchen's CEO, Michael 
Curtin. I continue to be inspired by Mike's commitment to and passion 
for alleviating hunger and offering some of the most vulnerable adults 
in this community the opportunity for a second chance.
  What makes DC Central Kitchen so special is its mission. Not only 
does the organization work to address the immediate nutritional needs 
of local residents, but it works to train and empower adults with high 
barriers to employment to a successful job-training program.
  This preeminent job-training program prepares vulnerable adults, 
those with difficult histories of incarceration, addiction, 
homelessness, trauma, and chronic unemployment, for careers in the 
culinary industry.
  Importantly, students of the program also receive career-readiness 
training and self-empowerment counseling. As Mike pointed out during 
our visit, these important components of the program are a big part of 
why students are able to find and keep jobs after graduating.
  The program works. After graduating, almost 90 percent of the 
program's participants find jobs in restaurants, hotels, cafeterias, 
schools, and other parts of the culinary industry.
  So not only does the program offer participants the training they 
need to enter the workforce, it also helps local businessowners staff 
their companies with motivated, trained individuals. It is a successful 
model that should be replicated.
  A core aspect of DC Central Kitchen's mission is feeding hungry 
children, seniors, and other vulnerable adults. Each day the Kitchen 
uses 3,000 pounds of donated and recovered foods to make 5,000 healthy 
meals. In the past year alone, the Kitchen has delivered 1.8 million 
meals to 80 partner agencies.
  A majority of the meals are delivered to at-risk children in 
afterschool programs, emergency shelters, adult education and services 
providers, child and youth services providers, and homeless shelters, 
but also to transitional housing, rehabilitation, drug treatment, and 
domestic violence shelters. They also receive food from the Kitchen as 
well.
  I am particularly impressed by the reach of DC Central Kitchen's 
school food program, which provides healthy meals to kids in 15 local 
schools. Last year alone, the Kitchen prepared a million meals and 
snacks, and at least 50 percent of every plate was made of locally 
sourced produce. The program is supporting local farmers as well.
  DC Central Kitchen is also working to expand its reach across the 
country by engaging high schools and college students with its 
successful campus kitchens project. On 53 high school and college 
campuses, students work to fight hunger and food waste by turning 
surplus food into healthy meals for those in need.
  On top of all of this, DC Central Kitchen also has a successful 
catering arm that uses locally sourced produce to create healthy and 
delicious meals for special events. The catering coupled with private 
donations help to fund the Kitchen's programs and invest in these 
incredible students.
  So during our visit earlier this week, we saw firsthand the positive 
impact the DC Central Kitchen is having on our community. We were able 
to meet some of the Kitchen's students, volunteers, and graduates who 
are now working at the Kitchen. They are inspirational.
  But during our visit, we were also reminded that charities like DC 
Central Kitchen can't do it alone. They are only one piece of the 
puzzle when it comes to alleviating hunger and helping our most 
vulnerable neighbors get back to work.
  In Congress, we need to support our Federal antihunger safety net and 
commit to long-term investments in areas like job training, housing, 
addiction recovery, and education, just to name a few.
  At a time when progress in Washington is stalled, it was refreshing 
to join my colleague G.T., his staff, and a bipartisan group from the 
House Agriculture Committee in accomplishing something.
  We all need to do more to help those who are having trouble putting 
food on the table, so it was great to chop peppers and carrots and 
radishes to help make nutritious salads for those in need. It was a 
great reminder that, working together, we can end hunger now.

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