Robert Egger's Piece of Mind

I was talking yesterday with my new friend Valarie, a dynamo of bold ideas, big-time vision and on-the-ground action, who runs the Outreach Center down in Lafayette, LA.

The Center has been running in the red for months now, as she, her team and the city try to manage the wave of folks that washed into town following Katrina. The cool thing about her, the Center and Lafayette….they are SO up to the challenge, but the resources they really need (i.e: cash) is in short supply these days, for many reasons. As you can imagine, the scope of the need eats cash 24-7….but there are also national groups that have, quite frankly, accepted/taken/raised LOTS of dough and have yet to spread it around at the level they should, or so that it filters down.

It must be frustrating beyond measure to drive into work everyday and see the faces of thousands of folks who need basic stuff—food, shelter, clothes, school for the kids, medicine for their parents–their lives back…and not be able to meet that need. That frustration is NO doubt compounded by the gut feeling that there’s money being given out, but your town, your clients, your program just hasn’t hit the radar. And that’s what we talked about…getting on the radar so that some company, foundation, church group or individual reaches out and lends them the hand they need to meet the need.

It’s hard when you try to swim against this kind of tide, and a small group down in a small town can feel pretty darn disadvantaged when they try to raise their hand above the Goliath organizations that have the muscle, the media and the manpower to get to any donor faster, with slicker packages and biggerer (I love that term) bold plans. And while goofy ass metaphors like David and Goliath hardly help, we did spend time talking about small stones and the impact a well thrown one can have.

Listen for her and look for her stones….I think she’s going to be a voice that is VERY hard to hold back, because she speaks for thousands of small organizations that are out there, everyday, slugging it out and loosing ground. For years now they’ve played the nonprofit game by the rules they inherited…be patient, don’t speak up, take the money you are offered and be grateful, smile for the camera, be a good team player…and remember, don’t push too hard, because, after all “the poor will always be with us”!?!?!?!?!

Listen for her, because hers is the voice of a new generation of leaders who WILL NOT sit by and watch passively while we repeat the massively well intended, but ultimately limited strategies of the first generation of nonprofit pioneers. Bold as they were, and as MUCH as they accomplished—New Orleans and just about every other city in America had, and still has way, WAY too many folks at the bottom. Would you be satisfied, if you were a young leader, who had invested years volunteering in high school? Would you, if you studied night and day through college while still continuing to volunteer in your “new” hometown, or in another town on your alternative spring break? Would you, if you got out of school, full of fresh vision, fat brains, unlimited faith and Good Will power and started looking for a nonprofit that had the resources and the power to harness and guide that energy to challenge the reason WHY so many are left out? Would you if you were the generation that will pay the taxes to continue to keep this country’s (or that nonprofit’s) lights on? WOULD YOU??? No, you wouldn’t…and neither will Valarie. She and many, MANY others of her generation want to wrestle poverty to the ground and leave it whimpering in the dirt. She wants the public to understand the difference between charity and change. She wants business and government to really partner with her, and hundreds of other groups in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama to STOP, think and then roar forward, together. Most of all, she wants folks who seldom had a chance to get into the game–to get a job, pay taxes, contribute to the community and, ultimately come home at night to a family table full of the food they bought, in the house they own, so that their kids believe in this country and the shot they have to get a piece of the pie for their own kids, one day down the road.

But today, right now….she wants in, and she wants to bring everyone she saw standing outside of the Outreach Center this morning with her.

And me….well, I’m trying to help her (and many others, myself included) find that perfect round, smooth stone that is probably lying right at her feet.

Take aim, Bold Sister.

Share on Facebook

Robert Egger

R Robert is the Founder and President of L.A. Kitchen, which will open in 2013. The L.A. Kitchen will professionally recover fresh food, with an emphasis on fresh fruits and vegetables, which it will use to fuel a culinary arts job training program for men and women coming out of foster care, or older men and women returning from incarceration. Robert pioneered this model during his 24 year tenure as the President of the DC Central Kitchen, the country’s first “community kitchen”, where food donated by hospitality businesses and farms is used to fuel a nationally recognized culinary arts job training program. Since opening in 1989, the Kitchen (which is a $10 million a year, self-sustaining, social enterprise) has produced over 26 million meals and helped 1,000 men and women gain full time employment. The Kitchen operates its own revenue generating business, Fresh Start Catering, as well as the Campus Kitchens Project, which coordinates similar recycling/meal programs in 33 colleges or high school based kitchens. In addition, Robert is the Founder and President of CForward, an advocacy organization that rallies employees of nonprofits to educate candidates about the economic role that nonprofits play in every community, and to support candidates who have detailed plans to strengthen the economy that includes nonprofits. In Washington, Robert was the founding Chair of both the Mayor’s Commission on Nutrition and Street Sense, Washington’s “homeless” newspaper. He was also the Co-Convener of the first Nonprofit Congress, held in Washington DC in 2006. Currently, Robert serves on the Board of the national addiction recovery program, Back On My Feet, the Philanthropic Collaborative, and Chef Jose Andres' World Central Kitchen. Robert’s book on the non-profit sector, Begging for Change: The Dollars and Sense of Making Nonprofits Responsive, Efficient and Rewarding For All, was released in 2004 by HarperCollins. It received the 2005 McAdam Book Award for “Best Nonprofit Management Book” by the Alliance for Nonprofit Management. Robert was included in the Non Profit Times list of the “50 Most Powerful and Influential” nonprofit leaders from 2006-2009. He was the recipient of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington’s 2007 “Lifetime Achievement” award and the 2004 James Beard Foundation “Humanitarian of the Year” award. He has been named an Oprah Angel, a Washingtonian of the Year, a Point of Light and one of the Ten Most Caring People in America, by the Caring Institute. He is also a 15-gallon blood donor to the American Red Cross. Robert speaks throughout the country and internationally on the subjects of hunger, sustainability, nonprofit political engagement and social enterprise. He writes blogs and editorials to share his ideas about the nonprofit sector and the future of America. To check out Robert’s most recent speaking schedule, blogs, and editorials, please visit www.robertegger.org.  

Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts

Related posts:

1. Alice Waters and the Edible School Yard

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 21st, 2006 at 6:27 am and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.