Former convicts running a catering business—sound like the culinary version of Con Air? So one might think, but think again. It’s actually a description of the Corp’s newest business partnership.
Vital Vittles recently began selling sandwiches, wraps, and salads made and delivered by Fresh Start Catering, an organization affiliated with the D.C. Central Kitchen. Not a soup kitchen, DCCK instead focuses on redistributing food that would otherwise be wasted to needy populations of the District. Through Fresh Start Catering, DCCK seeks to empower underprivileged individuals by providing job training to those who might otherwise have trouble finding jobs, including the “unemployed, underemployed, previously incarcerated persons, and homeless adults,” according to their website. Moreover, the profits from the program go back into DCCK’s charitable programs, perpetuating the benefit reaped from each item sold.
The Corp’s partnership with Fresh Start Catering should be applauded as a noble effort to carry the student organization’s philanthropic mission beyond the front gates. The Corp already excels at giving back to the community on campus. Through its partnership with Fresh Start, the Corp is able to give back to the greater D.C. community while making Georgetown students aware of the problems faced by those outside the Georgetown bubble. Despite Mayor Adrian Fenty’s (D) attempts to address the problem, homelessness remains a serious issue in D.C.shy;—Gunther Stern, the director of the Georgetown Ministry Center, which works with the homeless, estimates that there are 60 to 80 homeless people in the Georgetown neighborhood at any given time. Formerly incarcerated people also often face a stigma which makes rehabilitation difficult, and the opportunities that Fresh Start provides to such individuals is invaluable.
Buying a Fresh Start sandwich from Vittles isn’t the single solution for these complicated social problems—but it’s a concrete way for Georgetown students to support the underprivileged in the D.C. community. And it’s a good excuse to skip Leo’s—surely that’s something we can all get behind.
