WASHINGTON, D.C. - Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE) staff members and Capitals Hall of Famer Rod Langway assisted DC Central Kitchen employees with morning meal prep on Monday, Aug. 27, in Washington, D.C., during MSE’s second summer service project.
Throughout the session 40 MSE employees transformed 3,000 pounds of leftover food into 5,000 meals for 100 area homeless shelters, transitional homes and nonprofit organizations in Washington, D.C.
Lauren Lafayette, manager of ticket operations, was one of several MSE employees who participated in the project by working at stations within the kitchen, including assisting with salad preparation and kitchen cleanup.
“I think it’s great we’re actually giving back to the community,” said Lafayette “It’s in a small but necessary way to feed our community. At any time it could be one of us or our loved ones [who need assistance].”
This was the second of three service projects that the Monumental Sports & Entertainment Foundation is hosting for MSE employees this summer. The Monumental Sports & Entertainment Foundation partnered with USO-Metro in July to assemble military family care packages that service members who are deploying send home to their families. In September the foundation will partner with Rebuilding Together Arlington/Fairfax/Falls. One of Monumental Sports & Entertainment’s core values is the double-bottom line that engages, unifies and gives back to the community the organization serves on a daily basis.
The Monumental Sports & Entertainment Foundation supports the charitable efforts of the professional teams under its umbrella: The Washington Capitals, Mystics and Wizards. MSE is committed to the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area and focuses on the following five pillars to maximize its impact on the community: education and scholarship, hunger and homelessness, military and veterans’ affairs, pediatric health and fitness and youth basketball and hockey.
For more than 20 years, DC Central Kitchen has pioneered a new model of using food as a tool to change lives. They provide nutritious meals to neighbors in need, equip unemployed men and women to begin culinary careers and engineer successful social enterprises that advance their mission while creating good jobs for the people they serve. Through job training, healthy food distribution and local small business partnerships, DC Central Kitchen offers path-breaking solutions to poverty, hunger and poor health.