Washington-based chef and philanthropist José Andrés teamed up with Nationals Park for Andrés’ not-for-profit World Central Kitchen to use the ballpark’s kitchens to produce and distribute free meals for the poor beginning Tuesday.
The Nationals announced that 1,000 meals were cooked and distributed to those in need on Tuesday, and when operating in full, the effort should be able to produce 50,000 meals a day.
The Nationals received permission from Events DC, the park’s landlord, to utilize several of the park’s kitchens for World Central Kitchen’s purposes while the baseball season and other sports are suspended during the coronavirus pandemic.
The meals are being distributed in the communities surrounding Nationals Park and the Nationals Youth Baseball Academy in Southeast Washington, including hospitals, schools and senior living centers.
“Whatever Washington, D.C., the mayor needs, whatever the metropolitan area, Virginia and Maryland needs, from this kitchen, we will be able to respond to any major emergency if anything happens,” Andrés said in a video posted to Twitter.
We may not have had @MLB opening day…but today we are opening @Nationals Park to feed our communities in need! Thank you to the Lerner family & @Nats4Good for helping make this happen. @WCKitchen is already cooking & will be here as long as we are needed… #ChefsForAmerica pic.twitter.com/gZWFEJ37cZ
— José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) April 7, 2020
Please read our comment policy before commenting.