News Type: Partner Highlights

Partner Spotlight: Harry Chapin Food Bank and Lipman Family Farms

Posted on April 26, 2018 by Christina Blick -

Brighter Bites is so excited about our expansion to Southwest Florida, where we are currently creating communities of health through fresh food in two Collier County elementary schools. But no Brighter Bites community would be complete without our amazing local partners, and we have two of them in Southwest Florida to celebrate today: Lipman Family Farms and Harry Chapin Food Bank!

Lipman Family Farms is America’s largest field tomato grower and a trusted staple in the Southwest Florida community. Lipman Family Farms was founded under a different name in the 1930’s, but its dedication to building lasting relationships with its customers and being responsible for the natural environment and the health of the families it works with has stayed the same. Brighter Bites has been friends with Lipman for years, previously receiving tomatoes for our families in Houston, Dallas, and Austin. We’re so excited to now be working with Lipman in their own backyard!

The Harry Chapin Food Bank‘s mission is to lead its community in the fight to end hunger. With Brighter Bites, it is able to support its priority of emphasizing the importance of healthy choices for the families it serves. The Harry Chapin Food Bank was founded in 1983 and serves five Southwest Florida counties. Every week, the Harry Chapin Food Bank provides food for over 28,000 individuals. We are so excited to be working with such an important organization for Southwest Florida families.

We can’t wait to see what the future holds for Brighter Bites with our new partners. We know that it will certainly be brighter with these folks by our side!

We Heart our NYC Partners

Posted on March 23, 2018 by Christina Blick -

Brighter Bites is so lucky to work with amazing partners across the country that help us create communities of health through fresh food. Two of these amazing partners, City Harvest and D’Arrigo Bros. Co. of New York, work hand in hand with our Brighter Bites NYC team to make sure families in the Big Apple have access to produce during Brighter Bites programming.

City Harvest
City Harvest pioneered food rescue in New York City in the early ’80’s, recognizing the second life excess food could serve in filling the plates of New York’s neediest residents. City Harvest has helped Brighter Bites find produce across New York City that would otherwise go to waste. Our teamwork has allowed us to provide approximately 100,000 pounds of produce to New York families since the Brighter Bites NYC launch in 2017.

D’Arrigo Bros. Co. of New York
D’Arrigo Bros. Co. of New York is one of the largest wholesale produce suppliers in the New York Metro area. D’Arrigo often finds itself over-supplied with produce, which is where Brighter Bites comes in. Our friends at D’Arrigo work hard to select excess produce items for Brighter Bites families each week, paying special attention to supply produce items our families may never have had access to before. Instead of letting these items going to waste, D’Arrigo helps these produce items nourish our families. In addition to supplying Brighter Bites with incredible produce, D’Arrigo recently gave a generous donation to support Brighter Bites’ efforts to create healthy communities everywhere we go. We are so thankful!

Source: D’Arrigo Bros. Co. of New York, Inc.

It’s Avocado Week!

Posted on March 8, 2018 by Christina Blick -

Brighter Bites is celebrating our brand new partnership with Avocados From Mexico and Mission Produce with Avocado Week, a week-long celebration of all things avocado! Thanks to a generous donation from Mission Produce, each Brighter Bites family is taking home two Hass avocados in their weekly produce bags. That adds up to almost 24,000 avocados!

Hass avocados are the only avocados in the world that are available 365 days a year. These beauties — which are technically berries…who knew? — are packed with nearly 20 vitamins and minerals and are naturally free of sodium and cholesterol. Avocados are also a great source of fiber and unsaturated (think “good”) fat, which means they’ll keep you full for a long time!

In addition to avocados, Brighter Bites families also went home with nutrition education information, including all the best tips and tricks for getting the most out of avocados, thanks to Avocados From Mexico. Did you know that you can use a brown bag and some bananas to ripen an avocado faster? You can also swap out half the butter in a baking recipe with an equal amount of mashed ripe avocado to decrease the saturated fat content. These gems are so versatile!

If we’ve left you craving some avocado goodness, head over to our Make Everyday an Avocado Day! recipe post for a variety of recipes incorporating your new favorite fruit!

Brighter Bites Loves Avocados

Posted on March 8, 2018 by Christina Blick -

Brighter Bites’ first ever Avocado Week has been an absolute blast! We’ve loved partnering with Avocados From Mexico and Mission Produce to deliver over 20,000 Hass avocados to the families of Brighter Bites. We’ve also loved learning about avocados and sharing this information with all our families so everyone can use and choose this different kind of fast food.

Our students and families were also thrilled to take home avocados in their produce bags. Check out some of our favorite snaps from this week!

Jumping for joy for avocados

Time for an avocado dance

Pondering what he wants to eat his avocado with. Breakfast? Lunch? The opportunities are endless!

That’s not how you eat an avocado! Someone forgot to check out our How To: Avocado guide.

Our volunteers are just as excited about avocados as the kiddos!

What’s better than one avocado? Two avocados!

Let’s give an avocado toast to our amazing volunteers

Volunteer appreciation!

Brighter Bites Loves Local!

Posted on February 12, 2018 by Christina Blick -

When we can, Brighter Bites supports local farmers by sharing the product of their hard work with our participants. After all, it is the growers who spend their days tending to the fresh fruits and vegetables that helps Brighter Bites create communities of health! This year, parents and children in some of our Texas cities have had the opportunity to touch, taste, and cook delicious fresh produce grown in their own state.

In Austin, through our partnership with Hardie’s Fresh Foods, we are featuring Texas grown produce throughout our Spring programming. These items include: oranges and grapefruit (Edinburg Citrus Association), bok choy and beets (Rio Fresh), acorn squash (PPC Farms), collard greens (Johnson’s Backyard Garden), red cabbage (J&B Farms), and sweet potatoes (H.M. Smith & Sons). Our friends at Farmhouse Delivery have donated carrots, collards, radishes, kale, turnips, kohlrabi, and bibb lettuce all grown in Texas.

We are so grateful to the growers of fresh produce in the state of Texas!

NYC Students Give Thanks to Produce Donors

Posted on November 22, 2017 by Christina Blick -

Under the direction of Assistant Principal Panayiota Karaisko, students at New York City’s PS 234Q elementary practiced giving thanks this holiday season by writing thank you notes to the organizations that donated produce to Brighter Bites NYC. These donors provided a variety of exciting fresh produce items throughout the fall, like papaya, kale, pears, butternut squash, prunes, and cantaloupe. It was a colorful and nutritious season!

Like our students, Brighter Bites is so thankful for the support of our wonderful produce donors. Brighter Bites would not be possible without their generosity.

If you’re in want of a little something to warm your heart this Thanksgiving, read a few of our students’ thank you letters below:

Partner Spotlight: Hardie’s Fresh Foods

Posted on November 22, 2017 by Christina Blick -

Recently, Brighter Bites Austin wrapped up a successful fall session of programming, propelled by culinary creativity, generous produce donations from growers that work with FreshPoint South Texas, and our new collaborative partnership with Hardie’s Fresh Foods.

Radames Leal, Transportation Manager (L) and Tony Medina, Operations Manager (R)

On top of delivering over 50 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables—including cantaloupe, gold kiwi, burgundy lettuce, medley tomatoes, and pears—each week to approximately 750 participants at six schools in the Austin Independent School District, the team enhanced distributions with educational recipe displays and guided culinary literacy through cooking demonstrations at three school sites. As always, inspirational school leaders, teachers, volunteers, and parents fueled the team’s continued programming excellence. Week after week of programming, Brighter Bites teachers and parents introduced their students and children to an average of nine varieties of produce, all of which entered through Hardie’s Fresh Foods’ warehouse doors before being re-packed and delivered to school sites, thanks to their exceptional warehouse and transportation teams.

Sidney Krzywonsky, Receiver

David Ibarra, Warehouse Team Member, builds and stages all Brighter Bites mixed pallets

Jose Martinez, Driver, delivers produce to Brighter Bites schools

Paike Morris, Driver, delivers produce to Brighter Bites schools

We could not be more grateful to Hardie’s Fresh Foods for their warm, enthusiastic welcome and incredible support of our program and mission. Many thanks to FreshPoint South Texas, Feeding Texas, and Hardie’s Fresh Foods for your shared passion and partnership.

Alex Rangel, Transportation Supervisor

David McCoy, General Manager

Brian Williams, Receiver

Gaudencio Bautista, Receiver

Brighter Bites is Right on Target in Houston and Dallas!

Posted on August 16, 2017 by Christina Blick -

This summer Brighter Bites teamed up with Target to bring our not-so-secret formula to thousands of families in Houston and Dallas. We were so excited about this partnership, we changed the design of our bags for the summer to include the popular Target bullseye alongside our cute Brighter Bites apple. Notice how the reds work together? This was a designer’s dream come true!

Texas may be hot, but that didn’t stop our volunteers from bagging hundreds of thousands of pounds of produce this summer! In Houston and Dallas combined, we bagged and distributed nearly 300,000 pounds of produce. That’s equal to approximately 835,000 servings of fruits and veggies!

Fruits and veggies are an essential part of a healthy lifestyle. The abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables available during the summer season makes maintaining a healthy diet easy! Eating in season is not only budget friendly, but fruits and veggies harvested in their peak season retain their maximum vitamins and nutrients, making them the better choice for your health!

This summer our team gave out a wide variety of delicious and nutritious produce, including cantaloupe, strawberries, peaches, corn, and green beans! Cantaloupe has high water content helping you stay hydrated all day long. Strawberries are not only a sweet treat; they also fight against cancer and aging. Peaches boost your immune system and aid in maintaining skin and eye health. Corn improves digestive health and helps lower LDL cholesterol levels. Green beans are a great source of vitamin K promoting healthy bones. These are just a few examples of the plentiful benefits our families enjoyed from our colorful summer produce! Remember to “eat the rainbow” to receive a variety of nutrients!

Shipt to Join Brighter Bites in New Partnership

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Christina Blick -

Today we’re delighted to announce a new program partnership with Shipt, the on-demand grocery delivery service. Shipt will sponsor Brighter Bites programming in 2017 at one school in each of our three cities: Austin, Houston, and Dallas.

“We’re committed to long-term support of the Brighter Bites mission,” says Liz Willis Cook, Community Partnership Specialist at Shipt, “and plan to provide volunteer time and in-kind support in addition to a monetary commitment throughout our partnership.”

Shipt’s initial contribution came through their significant donation to Brighter Bites in support of our fundraising effort for the Austin Marathon. With Shipt’s help, Brighter Bites will benefit from a Moody Foundation donation which made a grant that will match all donations raised by the 27 official Austin Gives Miles charities, up to $10,000 per charity.

We’re looking forward to spending Marathon weekend with the folks from Shipt. First, we’ll share a booth at the Race Expo on Friday, February 17 & Saturday, February 18 at the Austin Convention Center. That’s where the race’s 14,000+ runners pick up their race packets, try new running gear, and sample energy snacks. Brighter Bites and Shipt will be handing out crisp red apples and swag to anyone who comes to our booth! Shipt will also join us at the Brighter Bites Aid Station located at Mile 8 on the Marathon course, also known as The Rock at Town Lake, where our volunteers will be cheering on thousands of runners and hydrating them as they pass.

We are over the moon about our new partnership with Shipt! And don’t you just love their logo?

Brighter Bites and Target Join Forces in Houston and Dallas

Posted on January 31, 2017 by Christina Blick -

We are thrilled to announce that Brighter Bites was selected by Target as one of the first Target wellness grant recipients, a diverse set of small and large organizations that address a wide scope of programs to promote and inspire access to healthy eating and active living. With this support from Target, Brighter Bites will strengthen and deepen our nutrition education activities in our Houston and Dallas markets to further our commitment to feeding with impact.

Target is working with partners to help drive sustained changes, finding new ways to help overcome barriers to wellness in communities across the country. Target is granting up to $40 million this year to help fund new partnerships and programs in the wellness space committed to increasing the consumption of nutrient-dense food and increasing physical activity of kids and families across the country.

Our Brighter Bites families will surely benefit from Target’s generosity, and we could not be happier to join Target in its endeavor to improve and promote health and wellness in our communities.