DC Central Kitchen has been preparing meals for food insecure people in the nation's capital for 33 years, but they realized they couldn't provide homemade meals to everyone who needed them. Now, through a partnership with DoorDash, they're delivering 50,000 meals to DC seniors.
During its first 33 years of preparing meals for food insecure people in the nation's capital, DC Central Kitchen recognized it couldn't provide a homemade meal to everyone who needed one.
“We were delivering meals in big refrigerated trucks, usually to families, so we weren't able to reach isolated seniors who couldn't get out at all,” said Alex Moore, chief development officer at DC Central Kitchen, which moved from the basement of a federal shelter to a facility near Audi Field in Southwest Washington, DC, in 2023.
Now, after a two-year partnership with DoorDash and its Project Dash program, 50,000 fresh, healthy meals have been delivered to D.C. seniors facing food insecurity.
Since DC Central Kitchen was founded in 1989, meals have been made and individually packaged by the nonprofit's culinary graduates, many of whom have experienced hardships such as homelessness or incarceration, Moore said. The organization began partnering with DoorDash in 2022.
“So we're able to prepare meals that we know how to make, and DoorDash is able to use their incredible logistics network to deliver those meals directly to local seniors in Washington, D.C., at no cost to them,” Moore told WTOP.
Moore said the meals are prepared every morning at the DC Central Kitchen, “and then we line up all the meals for DoorDash Dashers to pick up,” and “right now, 150 seniors a day are getting these beautiful, healthy meals delivered right to their doorstep.”
Moore said the program is at no cost to food insecure seniors.
“We work directly with seniors to figure out when they need meals and how many meals they need,” he said. “Seniors can sign up for our free daily delivery service, which allows us to serve seniors who might not otherwise get a meal that day.”
Moore said so far the program has been funded by private donations through a variety of local community supporters, including foundations.
Meanwhile, Project DASH has provided more than 100 million meals and made more than six million deliveries across the U.S. and Canada since 2018 in partnership with DC Central Kitchen and similar food shelters.
“Mobility challenges, lack of access to transportation and stigma can be barriers to accessing charitable food and healthy, nutritious meals,” said Katherine Rodriguez, national policy director at DoorDash. “Delivery can overcome these challenges.”
Asked whether Dashers might be reluctant to provide prompt, courteous service to food-insecure seniors who can't afford to tip, Rodriguez and Moore said the opposite often happens.
“Dashers get paid just like any other dasher,” Rodriguez said, “and in fact, many dashers prefer to make these deliveries because it helps them connect more directly with their local communities.”
Rodriguez said the Dashers who deliver DC Central Kitchen meals to seniors are “the same Dashers who deliver meals from your favorite restaurant or last-minute groceries.”
Moore said Dashers' connections to the community have helped both DC Central Kitchen and DoorDash.
“Having dashers show up regularly and making this part of their routine makes a big difference because they get to know the seniors who receive the meals,” Moore said. “We know we can trust them with this part of the process.”
Moore said in January that DC Central Kitchen is providing about 2,600 home-delivered meals a month through Project Dash. Last month, more than 4,200 meals were delivered.
“A lot of older people are hesitant to ask for help,” Moore says, “so when they know that the service they're receiving is really thoughtful and purposeful, they're more likely to tell their friends and others in similar situations that this is a real solution.”
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