Robert Egger

How did a man whose goal in life was to create the world's greatest nightclub ever become the model for leaders in the nonprofit sector?

In the late 1980s, Robert Egger managed a couple of Washington nightclubs, when he and his fiance Claudia wanted to get married and at a particular church in Georgetown . In order to get married there, the church required that they do some volunteer work with the homeless through one of their outreach programs, which Egger and Claudia were happy to do. Egger was immediately struck by the inability of the homeless people to break out of their daily routines as they returned to the same street corners each day for their rations of handouts.

As someone who had worked in the hospitality industry, Egger was also very aware of just how much food is thrown away by area restaurants, hotels and caterers. He began collecting unused food from these sources, and soon converted an old kitchen into a job-training center. With his vision, and a lot of help from volunteers, the D.C. Central Kitchen was born in 1989. Today, the kitchen serves and delivers more than 4,000 meals a day throughout the Washington area, but more importantly Egger has helped to reshape the way the homeless problem is looked at and dealt with nationwide.

Stressing efficiency and the need for life-skills training, the D.C. Central Kitchen has been named one of President Bush, Sr.'s “Thousand Points of Light” and has become one of the most respected and emulated nonprofit agencies in the world. Its highly successful 12-week job-training program equips former homeless transients and drug addicts with culinary and life skills to gain employment in the restaurant business.

In 1996, Egger established Fresh Start Catering, a revenue-generating operation, which employs men and women who have graduated from the Kitchen's culinary arts job-training program. Proceeds from Fresh Start (which has the Smithsonian Institution,the Department of Commerce, and Georgetown University as clients) provide ongoing financial support for the nonprofit Kitchen's job-training needs throughout the year.

The Kitchen's well-known supporters include Jeff Bridges and President Clinton who not only served food at the kitchen, but also then signed into law the Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act of 1996 act, which provides national protection to citizens, businesses, and nonprofit organizations that donate food in good faith.

The organization's most recent venture, the Campus Kitchen Project has helped establish 20 food preparation sites in underutilized high school and college cafeterias throughout the country. Egger also started an outreach program, First Helping, to connect those in need with mental health, government, religious, and homeless service organizations. First Helping also strives to help the business community better understand and address core issues facing the homeless and formerly homeless. For more information on the Kitchen, visit www.dccentralkitchen.org.

Egger also sits on several boards, and has even written a book, Begging for Change , which was published this year by Harper Collins Business.