On Sept. 3, 2015, Gourmet Symphony and Capital City Orchestra hosted the Taste Your Music benefit to raise money for three nonprofits working to fight hunger in the DC area: Miriam's Kitchen, Bread for the City and So Others Might Eat.

At the benefit, each course and cocktail was specially crafted to complement a piece of classical music.

Taste Your Music strives to examine the intersection of culinary arts and classical music. The goal is not only to partner with charitable organizations to help fight hunger, but to establish a "renewed commitment to socially conscious arts programming."

Taste Your Music at Hamilton Live in downtown DC

"Gourmet Symphony's goal is to break down barriers to (access to) classical music." - John Coco, co-founder

"You often see different art mediums (sic) being combined, but food and music, not so much." - Judy, a guest at the Taste Your Music benefit

The orchestra warms up.

First course to complement Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.

It's great they're bringing music to people who don't usually have access to classical and chamber music. - Neil, @GourmetSymphony player

"Our goal is to stop the cycle of poverty and homelessness in DC." - Daryl, So Others Might Eat

Programs like Taste Your Music strive to present creative solutions for social change.

"They need something to feed their souls." - Kristen, Bread for the City, on clients and programs like Gourmet Symphony and Taste Your Music

John Devlin, music director, Gourmet Symphony

Soprano Mandy Brown

The musicians joined the guests during a break to discuss the night's program and beneficiaries

We act under the pillars of bringing our guests dignity, belonging and change." - Emily, Miriam's Kitchen

"it has become that time of evening when people sit on their front porches.." Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 to accompany dessert

Camille and Brianna of Gourmet Symphony bid the crowd goodnight, but not before encouraging the guests to consider volunteering their time at one of the three beneficiary organizations

Photographs by Joseph Simmons

Here's a swell idea. Open a pizza shop. Sell slices for a dollar. Let customers pay for more than one slice (or however many they actually eat), then give those slices to homeless people for free. Sweet idea, yeah?

That's what Mason Wartman did. The 27-year-old Philadelphian left his job on Wall Street to open Rosa's Fresh Pizza.

The model is pretty simple. Pay for your slice and however many you want to donate. For each donated slice, a Post-It is stuck on a wall. A homeless person comes in, takes a Post-It, trades it for a slice of pizza.

Here's Mason appearing on Ellen:

Obviously the feeding the hungry factor is a great one here, but as Mason points out, this model also treats the homeless customers with the same respect as any other customer. They aren't being handed leftovers waiting at the door, they aren't being shooed out, they're sitting and eating their pizza.

It's not a solution, sure, but it's a good step in the right direction.

Donate a slice!