Excess fruits and vegetables from next week's Fresh Festival on Capitol Hill will be packaged and donated to Washington's D.C. Central Kitchen, said United Fresh President and CEO Tom Stenzel on Tuesday.

"We are fortunate enough to share the bounty of our industry with lawmakers and their staffs during Fresh Festival, but we want to make sure that these products don’t go to waste," said Stenzel. "We are happy to see this produce go to such a worthwhile cause."

D.C. Central Kitchen will collect the unused fruits and vegetables from the event, which will be held Thursday night at the Cannon House Office Building. The donation was established with help from United Fresh Membership Director Miriam Miller, who is a frequent volunteer with the organization.

For more on the D.C. Central Kitchen, please visit www.dccentralkitchen.org, and for more information or to register for this year's Washington Public Policy Conference, please contact Angela Bezon at 202-303-3400 ext. 416.