Every morning at 6 a.m. the rustic looking Firehook Bakery and Coffeehouse in Dupont Circle is filled with the smells of fresh baked goods teeming in the oven and a strong aroma of coffee. Everything you see in the glass-contained shelves is made that day – the salads, sandwiches, pastries, and what they are best known for, bread.

Pierre Abushacara, the owner of Firehook’s 11 DC area locations, considers himself lucky. He says, “Being part of neighborhoods has helped Firehook stay in business for the past 15 years.” Firehook’s neighborhood focus extends beyond servicing regular customers looking for a hot cup of joe and a flaky cinnamon apple pecan scone. The pastry shop developed a food donation policy in order to give back to the neighborhoods that patron Firehook.

Instead of throwing away leftover bread and pastries at the end of the night and padlocking their garbage cans, an act that several grocery stores and restaurants take part in, the corporate office decided to offer the day’s leftovers to organizations that serve residents who have no regular access to fresh goods. And since the food is made and packaged daily, it can be distributed safely.

The company’s hands-off donation policy leaves it to the discretion of the store manager to decide which local organization the unsold food goes to. However, the store manager must pick an organization in the bakery’s neighborhood. “We give priority to organizations that themselves are serving people in the neighborhood,” adds Abushacara. Also, the local organization must be willing to pick up the baked goods for distribution to community members. 

Breaking Bread
Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Nancy Shia (ANC 1C) has been collecting food donations from Firehook’s Dupont Circle location since February 2007. For several months, Shia would pick up pastries, sandwiches, salads and bread at night on her bike and deliver the food to Christ House, a 33-bed health care facility located on Columbia Road in the Adams Morgan neighborhood. Christ House volunteers would include those donations as part of the meals that they give to homeless residents recovering from various illnesses. Shia’s daily responsibilities as an ANC commissioner have also helped her identify others to donate to in the community. “Since I’m a commissioner, I’ve been trying to help the low-income residents and families in my district.” She will often visit those residents and families with some bread and an assortment of pastries to give away.

Shia gives most of the credit for the community food initiative with Firehook to Ellen Thomas, a local activist who is known for her daily vigil in front of the White House against nuclear weapons. For 10 years, Thomas has been picking up food donations from three Firehook locations, five nights a week. Those donations go to several community kitchens and centers around DC, including Bread for the City, So Others Might Eat, Central Union Mission Kitchen, La Casa and the Dorothy Catholic Workers. Anything that is left over after drop-off is fed to people on her front door step. The idea that food should not be wasted is not the only philosophy that has guided Thomas’s actions. Thinking globally and acting locally is a way of life for Thomas, who believes in using the resources she has to support others in need. “We are not a shelter, but we can feed people,” explains Thomas.

A couple of years ago, Firehook employees asked Thomas if she could do a donation pick-up at their Dupont Circle location, but Thomas believed that adding another route would be too overwhelming. Instead, she asked Shia if she, with a few others, would be willing to spend a couple of nights a week facilitating pick up and distribution of Firehook’s perishable food items. 

Seeking Help
Consistently picking up food and distributing it on a volunteer basis can be overwhelming, so this summer when former ANC commissioner and member of the American Clergy Leadership Conference, Minister Chi Mauuso, offered to take up the slack of picking up food at Firehook’s Dupont shop, the help was welcomed. Minister Mausso distributes Firehook’s food on a weekly basis at the Washington Family Church on Columbia Road in the Mount Pleasant/Adams Morgan area.

Since only five people volunteer to pick up at the Dupont location – and with no shortage of food donations from Firehook – the problem of pick up and distribution remains, says Minister Mausoo. She believes there is a need for more human resources to make this food distribution project more successful.

Firehook Bakery & Coffeehouse
1909 Q St. NW
Mon.-Fri. 6:30 a.m.-9 p.m.
Sat. 7 a.m.-9 p.m.
Sun. 7 a.m.-7 p.m. 

Minister Chi Mauuso
Peace King Center
“In My Father's House Ministery”
Afrikan Women's Networking Group – AWNG Global Village Business Service Center
1610 Columbia Road NW. 202-462-5700 ext. 0 after 11 a.m.