That Ballpark Food You Didn't Buy? The Nationals Are Giving It Away.

By Michael Neibauer, Washington Business JournalThe Washington Nationals and its concessionaire, Levy Restaurants, have partnered with a Rockville nonprofit to donate excess food from Nationals Park to people in need.Nourish Now will receive and distribute “appropriate excess food items” from concession stands, clubs, suites and special events held at the ballpark throughout the year, according to a release. The majority of the food will support children, families and veterans in Montgomery County, home to both Nourish Now and Lerner Enterprises — the Lerner family owns the Nationals. A portion will be distributed to a U.S.VETS housing facility in D.C.'s Ward 8.The U.S.VETS partnership, per the release, “is just the beginning of Nourish Now’s efforts to serve residents in the neighborhoods near Nationals Park.”A Nationals executive said the partnership is part philanthropy, part sustainability. While Nats Park was the first LEED Silver-certified ballpark in Major League Baseball, and has evolved over time to include solar panels, rooftop gardens and compostable utensils, food waste was an issue hanging out there.“We’ve been looking for a partner for this for a long time,” said Jonathan Stahl, Nationals’ vice president of ballpark operations. “In the past we’ve partnered with others who were able to take our unused raw product, but finding someone who could take ready cooked food was pretty challenging. We found Nourish Now and they’re set up to do that.”Nourish Now has recovered more than 2.5 million pounds of food since its 2011 founding. This is its first partnership with a local sports facility.The Nationals are 83-67, 1.5 games up in the wild card race over the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs, with only 12 left to play in the 2019 regular season.Read the full article here.