by contributor by Donna Shor
Photo credit: DC Central Kitchen – The Hamilton
Robert Egger Tribute: Love, Love, Love All Night Long
The tribute to Robert Egger’s three hundred adoring fans–including many whose lives he has changed for the better―turned the huge venue of The Hamilton into a “sea of love,” as speaker after speaker dropped verbal “Tributes and Love Bombs” on him.
The crowd was greeted by Tim Meyer, head of the Clyde’s Group, which has built the handsome, many layered Hamilton in what was the old Garfinckels building at 14th and F Streets.
The night’s popular emcee, cool and congenial NBC-4 anchor Jim Vance, had his own admiring stories to tell of Egger’s work as founder of the DC Central Kitchen. The culinary training center hires, provides serious professional training, then finds employment for homeless and jobless individuals. Running four classes a year, workers prepare from 6,000 to 10,000 meals per day for distribution to the needy and to area schools, and shelters. The success of DCCK has inspired similar centers in other cities as well
But that is only the sketchiest summation of what Egger has accomplished in 24 years of service. This became very clear when a video was shown of DC Kitchen staff, trainees and former students who spoke from their hearts in saying how Robert has affected their lives, and wishing him success when he leaves to open a counterpart L.A. Kitchen in Los Angeles.
As the evening continued, it became clear that several of the headlined guest speakers, already noted and successful, had been spurred to do even more in their lives through Robert’s influence.
He’s been busy. DC Kitchen employs 140 people, and has trained in culinary and nutrition knowledge 1,000 students through 90 classes who have gone on to staff restaurants and hotels. Through his guidance, 30 area “corner stores” are selling affordable fresh produce and healthful snacks in DC areas of the city underserved in such foodstuffs.
Robert has a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Restaurant Association of Washington, has been named Humanitarian of the Year by the James Beard Foundation, and was declared an Oprah Angel when featured on her television program.
Lesser known activities: he’s also a 15-gallon blood donor to the American Red Cross and he saved the scandal-rocked United Way at a time of crisis according to William Couper, the recently retired Mid-Atlantic President of the Bank of America.
Couper, who is on the DCCK board, told the audience that when he called on Egger for help, relying on Eggers established record (and awards) for fiscally sound nonprofit management, Robert answered.
United Way was wounded and suffering after the exposure of decades long embezzlement by its leader. Couper said Egger put aside his own work to clean house at United Way, on whose funding many charities depend. He installed new board members as well as effective fiscal controls, and raised both morale and funding, which had dwindled alarmingly with the public’s loss of trust.
When Dan Glickman spoke, the former Secretary of Agriculture referred to Egger “as one of the great humanitarian entrepreneurs, and spoke of Eggers efforts to win passage of the “Good Samaritan Act.” Wishing to avoid food waste and to help the Kitchen feed more hungry mouths, Egger was hindered in collecting unneeded food from hotels and restaurants who feared health and insurance issues. Through the Act, that worry was resolved, and now refrigerated trucks speed the donations to the Kitchen.
Glickman emphasized the importance of Robert’s work, quoting the Talmud’s “Whosoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved the world.” On that basis, said Glickman “Robert has saved the world over and over and over again.”
Barton Seaver, the much-awarded young chef, quoted the Bible in remarks that were almost evangelical. He evoked the story of the loaves and fishes to describe Robert’s efforts in feeding the multitude, saying “The act of feeding is an act of principle and honor.” Seaver himself is now a Fellow of the National Geographic Society, working on topics that include sustainable food.
Leaving DCCK in the capable hands of Mike Curtin to run, Eggers is leaving for Los Angeles to found the L.A. Kitchen there. He is spurred by two issues: the great amount of nutritious food grown there, and the large elderly population who need it, but for whom it is not always available.
DCCK board member José Andrés has agreed to serve as Founding Chair of the new venture. Honored by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most important people in the world, famed chef Andrés, under his ThinkFoodGroup has founded several outstanding restaurants, three of which – Jaleo, Zaytina and Café Atlantic – are in the District. He is a recognized humanitarian. As one example, after the devastating hurricane in Haiti, with hordes of hungry people and no means of cooking, he demonstrated to them a simple, solar-powered cookstove of salvageable materials.
Andrés spoke with appreciative passion of what Eggers has done for the hungry, and what he is dedicating himself to help accomplish.
High point of the evening came when Maxine Baker, AARP’s Senior Vice President, announced she had “something in her purse for Robert” and called him onstage to help her pull off the breakaway wrapping from a big package, revealing a facsimile check for a very real sum: One Million Dollars. She said this grant to help fund the L.A. Kitchen is the largest AARP has ever made.
Music for the evening was outstanding; the band was composed of well-known musicians from several bands, mostly rockers. Jim Vance commented that he had never before been greeted by a barefoot guitaritst–Aishish “Hash” Vyas of Thievery Corporation Rockers Christoph. Green and Brendan Canty, formerly of Fugazi, gave us a sneak peek at a film in production covering the DCCK’s work.
As coda to the evening, Eggers― thanking everyone for their support, and saying that he had been given too much credit for work that was accomplished with the help of many others― suddenly whipped off his jacket to reveal on his upper arm the stars-and-bars logo of the District of Columbia, to applause and cheers from his loving fans.
