News Type: Media Mentions

Former Sysco Executive Named CEO of Brighter Bites

Posted on July 15, 2019 by -

Rich Dachman, former VP of Produce for Houston-based Sysco, will lead the national nonprofit that teaches people how to incorporate more fresh food into their diets and tracks their behavior change.

Houston, TX (July 15, 2019) – Brighter Bites, a nonprofit organization that is changing behavior among children and their families to prevent obesity and achieve long-term health, announces today that Rich Dachman is the Houston-based nonprofit’s new Chief Executive Officer.

Dachman comes to Brighter Bites with more than 40 years of experience in the produce industry, 28 of them at Sysco, the world’s largest broadline food distributor. Dachman retired from Sysco last month as Vice President of Produce for the global company. He had been a member of the Brighter Bites Board of Directors for more than three years.

“I have loved being a Brighter Bites board member, where I had the chance to work closely with the organization during a crucial phase of its growth. When Brighter Bites came to me with the idea of taking a leadership position, I thought it was a great opportunity to begin the next chapter of my career,” Dachman said. “I look forward to assisting Brighter Bites expand the impact of a program that is increasing produce consumption by teaching families how to change their eating habits for improved health. In my new role, I will be able to continue working with my colleagues in the produce industry, but in a way that enriches underserved communities around the country. Who could ask for a better job?”

“Rich has been an integral part of our organization for so long, and we could not be more pleased to have someone with his passion leading the way,” said Brighter Bites Founder and Board Chair Lisa Helfman. “Rich’s guidance will take Brighter Bites to a new level of impact. The Brighter Bites staff will benefit from Rich’s authentic leadership style and mentorship, and the communities they serve will benefit from Rich’s relationships in the produce industry.”

A Denver native, Rich began his produce career there with his family-owned business. Following the sale of the family business, he and his father opened a new foodservice operation in Denver for Kraft Foods, Inc. before Rich joined Kraft’s corporate office in Chicago as National Director of Produce in 1987.

In 1992, he joined FreshPoint Inc. and was President of FreshPoint Operating Companies in Houston, Denver, Atlanta and the Company’s central procurement office in Salinas, California. When Sysco acquired FreshPoint in 2000, Rich was appointed to the position of Senior Vice President, Western Region, and in 2007 was promoted to Vice President of Produce for Sysco Corporation.

Rich has received multiple awards, including The Packer’s Foodservice Achievement Award, the Center for Growing Talent’s Jay Pack Cultivating Our Future Award, and Produce for Better Health’s Excellence Award. Rich was Chairman of the Produce Marketing Association (PMA) in 2012, capping more than 10 years of leadership service for PMA.

Brighter Bites is an evidence-based, multi-component elementary school, preschool, and summer camp program that utilizes reliable access to fruits and vegetables, nutrition education, and consistent exposure to recipes and messages that feature fresh food. Each week families and teachers participating in Brighter Bites receive two bags containing approximately 50 servings of eight to 12 different fresh produce items along with the nutrition education materials.

Brighter Bites measures the outcomes of its program to determine impact. Research by UTHealth School of Public Health shows the Brighter Bites model provides consistent opportunities for children and their families to practice healthier behaviors in school and at home:

  • 98% of Brighter Bites parents report their children eating more fruits and vegetables while participating in the Brighter Bites program.
  • Of those, 74% said they maintained that increased level of consumption after Brighter Bites ended.

Children and parents participating in Brighter Bites reported a:

  • significant increase in the amount of fruits and vegetables consumed;
  • significant increase in serving more fruits and vegetables as snacks;
  • two-fold increase in cooking meals from scratch, and a significant increase in eating meals together and serving more produce as part of those meals;
  • two-fold increase in using nutrition labels to guide grocery purchases;
  • and a significant decrease in added sugars consumed among children.

About Brighter Bites:

Brighter Bites is a nonprofit that creates communities of health through fresh food with the goal of changing behavior among children and their families to prevent obesity and achieve long-term health. Brighter Bites is an evidence-based, multi-component elementary school, preschool, and summer camp program that utilizes reliable access to fruits and vegetables, nutrition education, and consistent exposure to recipes and messages that feature fresh food. Since 2012, Brighter Bites has provided more than 22 million pounds of produce and 100,000s of nutrition education materials to more than 265,000 individuals (including teachers!) in Houston, Dallas, Austin, New York City, the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area, and Southwest Florida. The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) recently named Brighter Bites the winner of the 2018 PHA Impact Award. In 2016, Brighter Bites won the Texas Health Champion Award. To learn more visit BrighterBites.org.

This Brighter Bites announcement was also reported on by the following publications:
The Packer
Produce Blue Book
Produce News
And Now U Know
Perishable News

Brighter Bites Featured in Andy Roddick Interview on Austin CBS Affiliate Station

Posted on July 10, 2019 by -

Brighter Bites partners with the Andy Roddick Foundation (ARF) Summer Learning Program in Austin, TX to provide produce distribution, nutrition education, and a fun food experience to students during the summer months. Founder and chair of ARF (and former tennis champion) Andy Roddick sat down to talk about ARF’s mission, effect, importance in our community, and gave Brighter Bites a shout out! Watch the Austin CBS affiliate station interview here.

 

The Packer: West Coast Expo names Brighter Bites as Golf Tournament beneficiary

Posted on May 6, 2019 by -

By: Tom Karst
May 6, 2019

Original publication in The Packer

“The Packer’s West Coast Produce Expo has named Brighter Bites as the event’s golf tournament beneficiary.

The May 9-10 West Coast Produce Expo, now in its 5th year, once again features a sold-out golf tournament, the West Coast Produce Charity Golf Classic. The tournament is May 9 at the JW Marriott in Palm Desert, Calif.

“We are thrilled to partner with Brighter Bites to help them propel their mission of creating healthier communities through the introduction of more fresh produce — all while giving a meaningful purpose for all of the golfers participating in the West Coast Produce Charity Golf Classic,” said Shannon Shuman, publisher of The Packer and vice president of produce for The Packer’s parent company, Farm Journal.

Brighter Bites is a nonprofit founded in 2012 by Lisa Helfman and Dr. Shreela Sharma. The group delivers fresh fruits and vegetables directly into families’ hands, while teaching them how to use and prepare fresh produce.

“We are so grateful to The Packer for choosing us,” said Stefanie Cousins, director of marketing and communications for Brighter Bites. “This is a wonderful opportunity for us.”

Since 2012, Cousins said Brighter Bites has delivered more than 21 million pounds of produce to more than 265,000 people. Brighter Bites is present in Houston, Dallas and Austin in Texas and also in New York City, Washington D.C. and Collier County in southwest Florida.

Brighter Bites works with schools to distribute bagged fresh produce — typically close to 25 to 30 pounds each — to families in the community.

In addition to a summer program, Brighter Bites operates for about eight weeks in the fall and eight weeks in the spring at each school.

The mission of Brighter Bites is to Create Communities of Health through Fresh Food, and it accomplishes this mission through a three-step program of Food Access, Food Literacy, and Food Engagement. The group also provides nutrition education consisting of handbooks, recipe cards, healthy tip sheets, and support for the implementation of a coordinated school health program.

Cousins said the Brighter Bites approach is building demand for fresh produce in the communities it serves. She said research shows that families who have been in the program typically consume much more produce than those that haven’t, even two years after leaving the program.

“We know that we’re creating demand, and this is something that we’re really trying to communicate to the produce industry,” she said.

Cousins said Brighter Bites hopes to expand to another city in the next six to twelve months, but it needs more funding.

“We need more produce partners — we need more donated produce to really make another city happen,” she said.”

Seabourn Elementary Promotes Healthy Eating

Posted on April 25, 2019 by -

The Mesquite News ran an article about Seabourn Elementary’s Brighter Bites program in the Dallas, TX area this week. Read the article here or below.

 

Seabourn Elementary has partnered with Brighter Bites, a Houston-based nonprofit that delivers fresh fruits and vegetables directly to families, to encourage students and their families to eat more produce and make healthier choices.

For eight weeks in the fall and eight weeks in the spring, Brighter Bites provides 5,000 pounds of fresh produce to Seabourn every week.

Seabourn Principal Renea Kern said the school has “Wellness Wednesdays” in which food trucks arrive at about 8:30 a.m. bringing fresh fruits and vegetables. From there the volunteer parents organize individual bags, and each family that has signed up to be part the program takes home about 25 pounds of fresh produce every week. Teachers also get a bag of produce delivered to their classrooms to use in a weekly educational activity to teach students about the importance of eating fruits and vegetables.

“After hearing about this program from another district I did some further research and thought it would be a great opportunity for our families,” Kern said. “We see so many of our students with chips, candy and soda that we wanted to try and make a positive influence towards healthier choices.”

Kern said after filling out an online application a Brighter Bites representative reached out to discuss how to bring this program to Seabourn.

“We are all about building communities of health through fresh food. We do that through fresh produce and nutrition education,” said Jenna Babbitt of Brighter Bites.

All Seabourn families are eligible to sign up for this program. Not only does each family receive fresh produce weekly, they also get recipes they can try at home with the produce provided that week.

“Brighter Bites provides samples of the recipe included with the produce when the parents pick up their bags. Additionally, our students get to experience the new produce each week with their teachers during the required produce activity,” Kern said. “Our students and families are learning how to make healthier food choices and try new things without the cost this would otherwise bring. Through the Brighter Bites program and the CATCH program that is already available in our district, we are supporting a healthier lifestyle.

“Our students and families are opting to choose healthier foods, and physical activity is encouraged and celebrated. We are on our way to making lifelong changes with the support of Brighter Bites,” she added.

Getting to Know Brighter Bites

Posted on January 20, 2019 by -

Pamela Riemenschneider (Produce with Pamela) visited a Brighter Bites site at a local elementary in Austin, Texas. She wanted the chance to see just what Brighter Bites is about and she was not disappointed. Check out what she has to say here!

New York Produce Show and Conference Donates Produce to Brighter Bites

Posted on December 28, 2018 by -

This year’s four-day New York Produce Show and Conference took place December 10 – 13, just in time for our last few weeks of Brighter Bites programming in NYC for the Fall 2018 season. After the produce show, display items were donated to one of our Queens locations. Many of our families got to try produce items like cauliflower, red bell peppers, garlic, cucumbers, pomegranates, and persimmons for the first time! We’re grateful for the generosity of the New York Produce Show and Conference and our NYC partners City Harvest and D’Arrigo Bros. Co. Read all about the produce show’s donation to Brighter Bites here.

Garlic, cauliflower, and red bell peppers, arranged to make an American flag, were all donated to Brighter Bites after the 2018 New York Produce Show and Conference

Brighter Bites Catches CrossFit Attention

Posted on December 18, 2018 by -

Brighter Bites loves creating communities of health through fresh food, and another community of health — the CrossFit community — has taken note!

Brighter Bites’ formula for success was recently highlighted in the Morning Chalk Up newsletter, the daily go-to source for keeping up with the CrossFit and elite fitness community. The CrossFit news source outlines our three step, Fill the Plate, Educate, and Make It Great model for building healthier communities. The piece quotes Brighter Bites Sourcing Manager Jennifer Boone’s description of the goal of Brighter Bites:

“At Brighter Bites, our goal is to change behavior among children and their families to prevent obesity and achieve long-term health. We operate an evidence-based elementary school, preschool, and summer camp program that utilizes reliable access to fruits and vegetables, nutrition education, and consistent exposure to recipes and messages that feature fresh food.”

The piece was also featured by WeRFitness, an online community for fitness and health. Check out the piece here.

Queens Students Eating Healthier

Posted on September 27, 2018 by -

 

 

Brighter Bites partners with City Harvest in New York City to implement our program at several sites in Queens. The Queens Chronicle profiled Brighter Bites in an article, reporting on our program’s mission to help families eat healthier with free fresh produce, nutritional education, and fun food experiences. Read more about it here!