Camp Airy kids get hundreds of Feed the Fridge meals after dining hall fire

Individual meals on a large table
Nonprofit Feed the Fridge volunteers prepared and delivered 600 meals to Camp Airy in Frederick County, Maryland, Thursday evening, a day after a fire destroyed the camp’s dining hall. (Courtesy Medium Rare)
The donated meals included steak and grilled chicken with a salad, and a vegetarian option. (Courtesy Medium Rare)
Camp Airy remains open for its summer camp guests, despite the fire. (Courtesy Camp Airy)
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Individual meals on a large table

What do camp kids eat after their dining hall burns down? Steak.

Nonprofit Feed the Fridge volunteers prepared and delivered 600 meals to Camp Airy in Frederick County, Maryland, Thursday evening, a day after a fire destroyed the camp’s dining hall.



The fire took more than 100 firefighters three house to control. There were no injuries.

Camp Airy, not far from Camp David, is an overnight camp for Jewish boys established almost 100 years ago. Its iconic dining hall was referred to as “the White House.”

The donated meals included steak and grilled chicken with a salad, and a vegetarian option.

The meals were prepared at Medium Rare’s restaurant in Bethesda. Medium Rare owner Mark Bucher established Feed the Fridge during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to provide meals to food-challenged D.C. area residents. It now has refrigerators stocked daily with free meals at community centers across D.C., Montgomery County and Prince George’s County.

Camp Airy remains open for its summer camp guests.

“With the support of donations, we are always ready to respond, no matter how urgent the situation is,” Bucher said. “Our mission is to be the neighbor our community can always count on.”

In 2021, Medium Rare and Bucher were awarded the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Community Support and Leadership Award for the Feed the Fridge program.

Jeff Clabaugh

Jeff Clabaugh has spent 20 years covering the Washington region's economy and financial markets for WTOP as part of a partnership with the Washington Business Journal, and officially joined the WTOP newsroom staff in January 2016.

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