Launched at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Real Food for Kids: Chefs Feeding Families is a joint initiative with Washington, D.C. metro-area chefs, and restaurants to provide nutrition security to school children and their families. Chefs Feeding Families, which began as an emergency response, providing hot, prepared meals to alleviate the unprecedented demand for food assistance, also employed restaurant workers who might otherwise have been furloughed. The program has evolved to a more sustainable model, providing meal kits and produce bags that include recipes, easy preparation tips, and nutrition information in a bilingual format to inform and inspire the preparation of nourishing meals at home.
Since March 2020, Real Food for Kids: Chefs Feeding Families has provided over 350,000 nourishing, plant-forward meals to school children and their families facing food insecurity.
About Silver Diner
With restaurants throughout Maryland, Virginia and New Jersey, Silver Diner is the preferred local restaurant for families seeking high-quality and healthier choices. Built on the values of integrity, quality and putting people first, the first Silver Diner was established in 1989 in Rockville, Maryland. Since then, Silver Diner has grown to own and operate 21 restaurants, serving three million customers yearly throughout the Washington, D.C. Metro Area. Executive Chef Ype Von Hengst ensures that food quality is a top priority, incorporating local ingredients wherever possible. By purchasing fresh and local ingredients, such as hormone free, all-natural meats, milk free of bovine growth hormone and free-range chickens, Chef Ype keeps menu items chef-driven and customer-focused. In addition, Silver Diner serves vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free and low-calorie items. The Silver Diner Kids Menu has won national accolades for its healthy items and has been part of a Tufts University research study on what restaurants can do to effectively encourage children to eat healthy.
Since 2017, Silver Diner has been partnering with Real Food for Kids to support the annual Culinary Challenge –a student-based competition focused on creating healthier meals in schools. Since April 1st, 2020 Silver Diner has prepared over 70,000 free meals for families in need as part of the Real Food for Kids’ Chefs Feeding Families initiative. Silver Diner has also helped raise an additional $165,000 in individual donations to support Real Food for Kids’ work.