Robert Egger, left, founder of DC Central Kitchen in Washington D.C., chats with Bradley County Mayor D. Gary Davis, center, and Cleveland Mayor Tom Rowland Friday before the launch of a collaborative effort by local non-profit agencies to reach more people.CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Dozens of community nonprofit organizations unveiled a collaborative effort Friday aimed at creating more cooperation among themselves and a new outreach to people who may need their help.
“There was a community vision that we can be more effective, better stewards of what we do, if we work together,” said Matt Ryerson of United Way of Bradley County.
A large crowd of nonprofit representatives met for lunch Friday in the Great Room atop Lee’s new Science and Mathematics Building to hear keynote speaker Robert Egger, who founded D.C. Central Kitchen which uses restaurant leftovers in the Washington, D.C., area to prepare meals for the homeless.
Egger’s agency expanded to provide training and food service jobs for homeless and ex-prisoners by providing school meals from locally grown vegetables.
D.C. Central Kitchens provided a $25,000 grant to Lee to begin its own Campus Kitchen Program a year and a half ago, said William Lamb, Leonard Center director.