A letter to Nationals fans from Mark D. Lerner

Dear Nationals Fans,

I hope you and your families continue to be safe and well.

Just like you, I miss baseball more and more each day. But I loved seeing the creative ways fans celebrated “Opening Day” at home — singing “Take me out to the Ballgame” from balconies and windows, wearing Nats gear, and listening to replays of the 2019 Postseason games!

I’ve been reflecting lately on why I truly love the game of baseball and, to me, what really makes the sport so special is the community the game creates.

From the very beginning, my family and I have always believed that the Washington Nationals have a special role to play in the DMV. We take our role as stewards of the team very seriously. Now more than ever, we are working to support those in need in our community.

While Nationals Park remains unable to host baseball games due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we sought out a way for the stadium to be utilized to help serve our community. Food insecurity is a primary concern for an ever-increasing number of DMV families. Certain regular channels for food distribution have closed, limiting access points to food for the people who need it most.

I am proud to say that we are partnering with World Central Kitchen to transform Nationals Park into a cooking and packaging site for thousands of free meals each day.

The meals will be prepared by World Central Kitchen and Washington Nationals employees and distributed by Washington Nationals Philanthropies and its community partners working in the neighborhoods surrounding the ballpark and the Nationals Youth Baseball Academy. In fact, it is our work and longstanding community partnerships at the Nationals Youth Baseball Academy that have enabled us to quickly identify these needs in our community and begin to meet them.

Yesterday, the first day of partnership, 1,000 meals were produced and distributed. Once fully ramped up, the operation at Nationals Park plans to produce tens of thousands of free meals each day.

You can see the team in action in this video!

It has been a true pleasure for our team to work with Chef José Andrés and his team. They are making tremendous contributions throughout the world, but with their headquarters located in downtown D.C., we can claim them as our own hometown heroes!

And our partnership with World Central Kitchen isn’t the only way in which we are responding to this crisis.

I’m also thrilled to announce that Washington Nationals Philanthropies has launched the NATS4GOOD Community Response Fund to provide grants to third party entities combating food insecurity. Washington Nationals Philanthropies kicked off the Fund with $100,000. Thanks to Nationals personnel, fan funders, corporate partners and foundation, the Fund totals almost $260,000 today and continues to grow.

The Nats4Good Fund has already made two grants to increase food access in our region: $25,000 to the Mid-Atlantic Food Resilience and Access Coalition, led by our longtime partner 4PFoods, and $15,000 to Martha’s Table.

Today, I am pleased to announce that an additional grant of $48,000 has been awarded to DC Central Kitchen to support fresh produce distribution, the biggest food access need that the program currently faces. As a result of the pandemic, their typical food sources to meet demand are inconsistent at best, forcing the organization to purchase food from third parties to fulfill their needs. This grant covers the cost of 600 bags of groceries, each feeding a family of four, for four weeks.

In addition, because we know that Nationals Youth Baseball Academy programming is a source of meals for our Scholar Athletes, the Nationals Youth Baseball Academy has been distributing free meals and discounted weekly produce bags to our Scholar Athletes and their families since the beginning of the DCPS school closure.

Thank you very much to those of you who have contributed to the NATS4GOOD fund. We know many of you are looking for a way to help. For those who are interested in adding their support, please donate today. 100% of your tax-deductible gift will be passed along to carefully vetted and credible partners.

Please stay safe, stay home, and stay healthy!

Mark D. Lerner, Managing Principal Owner and Vice Chairman