About Us

The Sacred Heart Dinner Program is a nonprofit organization located in the Mt. Pleasant/Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, D.C. We offer free services to the low-income and homeless including free dinners from Monday to Friday, free legal referrals as well as free haircuts. We partner with multiple local organizations such as Thrive DC, Martha's Table and Capital Area Food Bank.

Our mission is to provide a place where persons of all ethnic, social, religious and economic backgrounds can share a meal in an environment that is welcoming and which reaffirms their inherent dignity.  Our vision is to create and serve these guests so that they are integrated into the community and can become self-sufficient.

In the early 1990s, the Shrine of the Sacred Heart established a breakfast feeding program to combat hunger of residents in the District. In 1997, a nearby community outreach organization, Neighbors' Consejo,  received permission from the Sacred Heart pastor, Fr. Francis Russo, to locate their feeding program in parish's basement.  Neighbors' Consejo distributed soup and sandwiches in the evenings to needy members of the  community for several years.  

When Neighbors' Consejo's funding became scarce in November 2002, Sacred Heart assumed operation of the feeding program. Since 2002,  volunteers from across the Washington Metropolitan area have served thousands of meals to needy and homeless residents at Sacred Heart. With your support, Sacred Heart will continue and will serve thousands more homeless and needy persons through its dinner program in the future.  

• Served over 20,000 meals since January 2015
• Average over 100 guests per day
• 54% of our guests are Spanish speakers
• 92% of our guests are male
• 66% of our guests are over 50 years old
• 83% of our guests are in need of a job
• 63% of our guests are in need of a home
• Over 50% of our guests have been our clients for over 5 years

• Free dinners (Monday-Friday; 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM)
• Free haircuts (every Monday and Friday during dinner service)
• Free legal referrals (every 2nd and 4th Friday of the month during dinner service)
• Hypothermia shelter
• Free coats and warm clothing (during winter months)
• Individual job assistance (customized per client)