News Type: Program Highlights

Brighter Bites Heads Back to School

Posted on September 24, 2019 by -

Brighter Bites is excited to head back to school for the 2019-2020 school year! This season the program is returning to all six of its programming cities, including Houston, Dallas, Austin, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Southwest Florida, where it will serve more than 30,000 families at 100 sites.

Brighter Bites is thrilled to double its footprint in New York City this season by adding five new schools to the lineup, allowing the program to reach over 2,000 additional families.

In addition to participating in Brighter Bites’ signature produce distribution in the afternoons, students at Brighter Bites schools across the country will receive in-class nutrition lessons from CATCH and other evidence-based, coordinated school health programs. Last year teachers in Brighter Bites schools led a combined 6,550 hours of nutrition education in their classrooms.  Given our expansion in NYC, Brighter Bites anticipates that number will grow significantly.

Wishing all a wonderful and produce-packed start to the new school year!

 

 

 

Dallas Welcomes New Program Director Julie Macpherson

Posted on July 3, 2019 by -

We are excited to welcome Julie Macpherson, who will join the team in late July as the program director for Brighter Bites in Dallas. Julie joins Brighter Bites with a passion for food and food-related concerns after an extensive career within the public and nonprofit sectors focused on civil rights, environmental protection, and social service management.

As a high school exchange student, international studies major, and later resident of Washington D.C., Julie developed interests in world food traditions, cooking, and building relationships through food. Living in Portland cemented her love for farmers markets and connecting with growers and the land. After returning to Texas where she earned her undergraduate and master’s degrees, Julie became more involved with issues of hunger, food access for underserved populations, nutrition in food distribution programs, and fair trade food systems. The last included travel to the Dominican Republic to learn from organic cacao farmers within community-based, worker-owned cooperatives.

Julie is incredibly excited to bring her nonprofit experience and passion for healthy food to Brighter Bites, and the team looks forward to the opportunity to learn and grow under Julie’s leadership! Please join us in giving Julie a warm welcome!

 

Brighter Bites in Dallas, TX

Posted on July 3, 2019 by -

In the summer of 2015, Brighter Bites began serving families in Dallas, TX — the program’s first expansion outside of its home in Houston. This past school year, the Dallas team served families at 20 programming sites across the city in Dallas ISD, Garland ISD, and Mesquite ISD.

Map of Brighter Bites sites in Dallas, TX, during the 2018-2019 school year

The Brighter Bites Dallas program would not be possible without the incredible support of partners like North Texas Food Bank, Brother’s Produce, Taylor Farms, Hardie’s Fresh Foods,  Village Farms, and Mann Packing. Each of these partners supports Brighter Bites by providing us with produce donations, warehouse resources, and/or logistics support, all of which are crucial to making our program a success. By collaborating with Brighter Bites, these companies demonstrate both their commitment to helping communities in the Dallas area that don’t have reliable access to fresh food and their confidence in our program to help families change the way they are eating. We could not be more grateful for their partnership.

The tight-knit Dallas programming team will soon be led by incoming Program Director Julie MacPherson, who joins Brighter Bites after spending several years in Washington, D.C., Portland, and Dallas working in a variety of areas in the nonprofit space. The Dallas program director role was previously held by Alicia Farhat, who established the Dallas program nearly five years ago and helped it grow to a footprint of 20 schools in the Dallas area, serving thousands of Dallas families each year. Brighter Bites misses Alicia, and we wish her the very best! The rest of the team includes Program Manager Magaly Solis and Program Coordinators Maryann Aguinaga, Jenna Babbitt, Josh Meyer, and Dallas Riley. The team is supported by four incredible Program Associates, Suzan Mackay, Jocelyn Hunt, Yesenia Mejia, and Yolanda Johnson, as well as a high school fieldwork intern, Su Min Yoon, and a graduate school dietetic intern, Allie Kleppe.

The Dallas team has a dedicated workspace at GoodWork, a Dallas coworking office, where they enjoy working in a naturally-lit environment conducive to team building, especially through GoodWork’s periodic yoga and fitness classes! The programming team is also joined at the GoodWork office by three members of the Brighter Bites national team including Director of Strategic Parntnerships Meredith Spence, Sourcing Manager Jennifer Boone, and Nutrition Education Program Manager Jacqueline Noyola.

This summer, the Brighter Bites Dallas programming team is serving over 500 families at eight different summer sites. Join the team by signing up to volunteer at a Dallas site or in a Brighter Bites city near you!

Thanks to the Dallas team for all they do to create communities of health in Dallas!

Brighter Bites in Houston, TX

Posted on June 4, 2019 by -

Brighter Bites was born in Houston, TX in 2012, when Co-Founders Lisa Helfman and Dr. Shreela Sharma introduced a new nutrition education program to a KIPP elementary school in an underserved part of the city. What came next was a program that grew to create communities of health across the country and introduced thousands of families to the great variety of nutritious produce items that they would learn to incorporate into their everyday lives.

Brighter Bites still operates in Houston, now at a record 45 school sites, where it serves approximately 8,900 families and 1,700 teachers. The team is gearing up for the summer season, when it will participate with 16 sites to provide produce distribution, nutrition education, and a fun food experience to about 600 families.

If it’s hard to picture how far spread out the the Houston team’s effort is, take a look at this map of the 2018-2019 programming sites.

As the first Brighter Bites city, Houston has paved the way for the growth of Brighter Bites to five other locations across the country, often serving as the testing grounds for new programming developments. The Houston staff has developed strong relationships with partners, school communities, and with one another. The team comes together from many different backgrounds and walks of life, but the love for helping others through fresh food unites the team and makes it a warm, supportive community – like a second-family to many members of the team.

The Houston team works in close proximity to some of the Brighter Bites national team members, enjoying collaboration on projects, the occasional coffee date, and participating in local events together.

Brighter Bites Houston partners closely with the Houston Food Bank (HFB), sharing office space at the HFB facility in northeast Houston and teaming up in a variety of ways. For example, Brighter Bites works with Sarah McIntire of the HFB procurement team every week to learn about available produce items that Brighter Bites can use for produce distribution. The HFB volunteer productions team helps to secure space each week where Brighter Bites staff and volunteers prepare recipe samples (special thanks to Averi Edwards). The HFB warehouse team (shoutout to Korina Sanchez, Vicente Cortez, and Erica Mendoza) build produce pallets that HFB truck drivers deliver to Brighter Bites sites all around Houston.

Outside of the HFB, Brighter Bites also partners with organizations like the Pasadena Vibrant Community, which is an initiative of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center made possible by an investment from and collaboration with Shell Oil Company. The mission of the Pasadena Vibrant Community is to mobilize Pasadena to promote health and wellness in the community.

Brighter Bites works with a variety of players in the produce industry across the country. The success of the program depends on the generosity and expertise of these organizations and their employees, from produce donations to produce delivery. Foremost among these players are the Houston Food Bank and Sysco Freshpoint, who are invaluable partners of the Brighter Bites program in Houston. In addition to produce donations and general operational support from the Houston Food Bank, Brighter Bites relies on Sysco Freshpoint for logistics and produce supplier connections.

Additionally, Brighter Bites Houston receives regular donations from produce suppliers across the country, including Taylor Farms Mexico, The Garlic Company, and Monterey Miushrooms. The program receives occasional produce donations from Tanimura & Antle, D’Arrigo Bros. California, Sunkist, Mann Packing, ProSource, Dole, and Church Brothers, and produce at low cost from Village Farms, Lipman Family Farms, and Hardie’s.

The partnerships that make Brighter Bites such a success also include the communities across the city of Houston that make the program a priority in their schools. These partners include Houston ISD, Pasadena ISD, Aldine ISD, Alief ISD, and Brazosport ISD. These school districts and their schools support Brighter Bites by helping to create excitement about fresh food in their schools and encourage students, their parents and teachers to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into their lives.

Brighter Bites has worked with nine school districts since the program’s inception. The staff has learned over the years how to adjust Brighter Bites in small ways to fit each community and developed close relationships with the volunteers, families, and staff. Even after produce bagging for the day is complete, volunteers will stick around to engage in a conversation about how everyone plans to use their produce for the week and how they use the last week’s produce. Some volunteers will even bring dishes for the Brighter Bites staff to taste that use produce distributed the previous week.

Volunteers will share pictures from their produce-inspired meals with fellow volunteers, helping spark each others’ culinary imaginations. The team is always so heartened hearing volunteers share their excitement for fresh food and for the memories they’ll share preparing the food with their families. For more heartwarming anecdotes from the Houston program, click here (hint: the cutest mini volunteers make an appearance).

Brighter Bites is so lucky to have a dedicated team in Houston that works hard to create communities of health through fresh food in every Houston community!

Volunteer Superstars in Houston, TX

Posted on June 1, 2019 by -

One of the wonderful parts of carrying out the Brighter Bites mission of creating communities of health through fresh food is getting to see those communities come together and grow around a common love for fruits and veggies. This is something the Brighter Bites team regularly experiences with families, teachers, and school staff members who participate in the program. In this article, we’re sharing some of the Houston team’s favorite anecdotes about superstar school staff or volunteers who participate in Brighter Bites and contribute to the healthy communities we’re creating in Houston.

Seguin Elementary 

I’d love to shout out to the volunteers and Staff at Seguin Elementary.  All of them are always ready to drop everything and help out in any way they can.  Everyone always has their Brighter Bites shirts on for distribution day and are always glowing with excitement when they see the produce. – Tanya Reyes, Program Coordinator

Halpin Early Childhood Center

My Halpin contacts and teachers are amazing! They are always eager to help with bagging, delivering the teachers bags, and at distribution. The teachers love seeing what’s in the bag, and they do a fabulous job with nutrition education. – Katie Degen, Program Coordinator

Boone Elementary 

One of my favorite stories from Boone is Zoha, one of our young volunteers, being so excited to show me her strawberry purse! She came to almost every bagging and would help bag fruits and veggies with her mom. – Samantha Rodriguez, Program Coordinator

Kennedy Elementary

A standout school staff member would be Ms. Manson, the Parent Liaison at Kennedy Elementary. The first time I met her I showed her our video from our website, and it brought tears to her eyes. She knew that the first day of Brighter Bites bagging was October 16, so she wrote that date across her dry erase board and made sure to mention it EVERY time we met so that she knew exactly when we would be on campus. On the first day of bagging, she had recruited over 20 parents to help! She would go out of her way to make bagging a pleasant experience by bringing coffee and breakfast bars for the volunteers. She brought toys and play mats for the volunteers’ children to keep them occupied. She called teachers individually to ensure they came to get their bags. She would speak with teachers who were struggling to log their CATCH lessons or produce activities and offer to log their lessons for them! Our first year at Kennedy was wonderful, and I can’t thank Ms. Manson enough for the love and support she brought to Brighter Bites on her campus. – Samantha Rodriguez, Program Coordinator

Matthys Elementary

The nurse Ms. Lloyd at Matthys Elementary…I love her. I always tell her how much I appreciate her hard work on the ground at the school when we are not there. Her hard work is so apparent in the Matthys nutrition education report and the amount of volunteers Matthys provides every week. She is on it, and it truly helps to have that “special somebody'”who supports the program and the work that I do at the school as the program coordinator. – Thelma Green, Program Coordinator

Fisher Elementary

Genesis is one of our faithful distribution volunteers at Fisher Elementary in Pasadena ISD. She hands out the how-to as a “ticket” to families to get their bags every week. One day we were talking about life, and I asked her what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said she wanted to be a Brighter Bites worker. And I asked her if she knew what Brighter Bites workers do, and she told me that they talk to families about fruits and vegetables so they can be healthier. Needless to say, she’s ready. I also told her to keep doing well in school, and go to college so she can be the best Brighter Bites worker! – Jacqueline Castro, Program Coordinator

Robinson Elementary

So a line of 40+ children were leaving P.E. when I got to the gym at Robinson this morning, and the first student said, “I’m eating an orange today, that’s a go food!” And then without prompting, every single kiddo told me a “go” food example as they passed me! – Rachel Perlmutter, Program Associate

Rucker Elementary

At Rucker a mom said to me, “Thank you for having Brighter Bites come here. I see a big change in my girls. They choose to snack on vegetables rather than junk food. They already know that when Monday comes around I come home with bags of produce, and they’re excited to see what’s in the bags for the week. Thank you so so much for all that you do.” 

I find it so rewarding to hear these kinds of testimonies from families out in the field. – Tibisay Guzman, Program Associate

Seguin Elementary

The teachers at Seguin Elementary have a text message group where they share their Brighter Bites recipes! – Tanya Reyes, Program Coordinator

Boone Elementary

It is truly amazing to hear that parents are making the snacks at home. At Boone, I was about to leave, and a student approached me and said, “Do you remember the smoothie that Brighter Bite made last week?” I said, “Yes, the Hulk Smoothie.” She said with a smile on her face that she liked it so much that her mom made it for her. – Mary Ifebuzor, Program Associate

Ogg Elementary

Everyday of Brighter Bites at Ogg, I work in the teachers lounge and eat lunch with the teachers. One day, I was inspired by the grapefruit salad we had prepared, and I packed grapefruit with cut up mandarins. After seeing what I packed, teachers have been sitting with me sharing ideas of fruit snacks they enjoy. I love trying to be an example for teachers, and hopefully inspiring them to be examples for their students. – Samantha Rodriguez, Program Coordinator

Kennedy Elementary

Enjoying spending time with our volunteers at Kennedy Elementary in Houston. One of the volunteers made a delicious chicken caldo using her Brighter Bites produce. 🙂 She was very proud of it and made sure that I tried some. – Samantha Rodriguez, Program Coordinator

Enjoy some extra snaps of Brighter Bites in action in Houston!

Houston Staff Spotlight

Posted on June 1, 2019 by -

The Brighter Bites staff in Houston worked together this past spring to serve 8,900 families at 45 sites across the city. The Houston team — the largest in the organization – has a diverse educational background, but they all share a passion for health, food, and service. Read a bit below about the incredible staff that comes together each day to create communities of health in Houston.

Program Director

The Houston team is led by Program Director Emily Kelley, who joined Brighter Bites in 2013 as an Americorps VISTA volunteer before becoming a permanent member and leader of the team. She’s seen Brighter Bites grow from its infancy in Houston into the national program that it is today. The Houston team is so lucky to have her leadership!

Emily is supported by two program managers who have collectively served nine years with Brighter Bites and nine program coordinators, who’ve served a combined 22 years! Learn some fun facts about each member of the team below:

Program Managers

Lani Alcazar is passionate about community work and has a special affinity for nutrition and child health. Lani earned her master’s degree in public health at The University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston before joining the Brighter Bites team.

Molly Oyetunji grew up in Houston with a love for food and cooking that later translated into a passion for chemistry and nutrition. Molly loves sharing nutrition education information and changing children’s lives one Brighter Bites bag at a time. Molly recently had a daughter, Olivia, and hopes to pass on to her a love of healthy food!

Program Coordinators

Michael Carpenter began working with Brighter Bites as a Mission Year intern during the 2015-2016 academic year. Hailing from the Pacific Northwest with its abundance of local fresh fruit, Michael enjoys working to ensure kids in Houston have access to fresh fruit just like he did growing up in Washington.

Jacqueline Castro has a background in health education and uses her passion for nutrition education everyday at Brighter Bites to expose young children to fresh produce and to help build lifelong healthy habits.

Katie Degen loves educating individuals about nutrition and is a rockstar at making nutrition fun for Brighter Bites families.

Jackie Delagarza was born and raised in Houston and became passionate about nutrition education during college. Jackie enjoys playing an active role in educating Houston communities about all aspects of health and nutrition through Brighter Bites.

Jonathan Gerescher‘s passion for the nonprofit sector and serving his community began with Houston’s Discovery Green Conservatory and has since flourished into full-time dedication to help kids build lifelong healthy habits through Brighter Bites.

Thelma Green‘s background in community health and youth outreach in underserved communities has led her to pursue her passion for helping Houston’s young children and their families blossom one bright bite at a time. P.S. Thelma is the Houston team’s resident Zumba leader!

Tanya Reyes knew from a young age that she wanted to make a difference by helping others create a healthy relationship with food. She developed an after school nutrition education outreach program and taught child-focused cooking classes even before joining Brighter Bites!

Samantha Rodriguez came to Brighter Bites with a communications background in the natural foods industry and a passion for promoting healthy eating habits. She loves being a part of Brighter Bites and helping to provide families with produce and nutrition education to support healthy lifestyles!

Jessica Schauman explored the social effects of economic segregation and the influence of nutrition education on children’s health during her undergraduate coursework. She loves doing her part to make an impact on the community with the rest of the Houston team.

The Houston team also includes a group of hardworking program associates who join Brighter Bites part-time during the busiest times of the year. They make it possible for Brighter Bites to serve so many different Houston communities.

The Houston team offices in close proximity to some of the members of the Brighter Bites national team, which supports the growth of Brighter Bites across the country. Keep your eyes peeled for an overview of all the amazing staff who make up the Brighter Bites national team.

Thanks to all the Houston staff members for all that they do to create communities of health through fresh food!

Brighter Bites in Austin, TX

Posted on May 2, 2019 by -

Since the summer of 2015, Brighter Bites has been hard at work creating communities of health in Austin, TX, the third city introduced to our research-backed formula of produce distribution, nutrition education, and a fun food experience. We started out our program in 10 South Austin schools and currently serve 2,400 families in 12 schools. We’re excited to be expanding our program to 15 schools in North Austin this coming fall!

Fitting with the start-up culture of Austin, the Austin programming team has fearlessly piloted new Brighter Bites strategies and experimented with new ways of thinking about our model to improve various components of the programming experience. The team, led by Program Director Maggie Mangrum, has incubated an innovative culture, using each semester and school year as an opportunity to improve our connection to our families and enhance our community impact. The team is small and accomplishes a lot! You can meet the fantastic ladies behind Brighter Bites Austin here.

Brighter Bites Austin staff members pose amongst bags full of produce

We count ourselves lucky to operate in the Austin Independent School District (AISD), which has adopted a progressive health and wellness curriculum. AISD’s Nutrition Services Department is creative, health focused, and sustainability driven, and communicates messaging about health throughout the school year even after our program season ends.

Our primary partners in Austin are Hardie’s Fresh Foods and FreshPoint South Texas. You can learn how each contributes to our program here. Their partnership has helped us expand to new communities in North and East Austin.

Students prepared a special thank you to our partner Hardie’s Fresh Foods

The move to these new Austin communities has required us to build relationships with local neighborhoods so that we can develop the trust, credibility, and commitment necessary for our program to thrive. The staff, parents, and community members of the schools where we operate always go above and beyond to welcome us into their schools and give us the volunteer and in-class support the program needs. We could never pull off our program without them. You can read about a few of our volunteer and staff superstars here.

A mom and her daughter celebrate a successful season of volunteering with Brighter Bites!

The Brighter Bites Austin team has so much fun sharing office space with our friends at Farmhouse Delivery, a sustainability-focused and community-centered company that provides local produce and grocery delivery and a fantastic meal kit service. Our team began renting office and kitchen space from Farmhouse Delivery in August 2017, and we love our little nook in the main office area, where we get to interact with the kind and inclusive Farmhouse Delivery staff every day.

The Brighter Bites Austin office space at Farmhouse Delivery

Farmhouse is always offering us delicious samples of the recipes they send to the customers of Farmhouse meal kits and have donated produce to our weekly recipe prep.

The Brighter Bites team poses with some of our Farmhouse Delivery friends in the Farmhouse kitchen.

We whip up our fun food experience snack samples in the Farmhouse Delivery commercial kitchen, where we’ve become fast friends with the kitchen and warehouse staff. This past winter, Farmhouse’s Warehouse Manager Manny Moreno packaged bundles of Farmhouse’s fresh fruit and vegetables to give to a music class from one of our elementary schools, which came to the Farmhouse warehouse to sing holiday carols. We’re so lucky to work next to such a warm and welcoming company and team.

Brighter Bites staff and volunteers engage students in our ‘Fun Food Experience’

You can find Brighter Bites this summer at six Austin locations: Turner Roberts Rec Center, Gus Garcia Rec Center, Forbes CDC, Andy Roddick Foundation’s Summer Learning Programs at Harris Elementary and at Hart Elementary, and Wooten Elementary’s ACE program. Find out how you can volunteer with Brighter Bites here.

Special thanks to Program Director Maggie Mangrum and Program Manager Bethany Dawson for their contributions to this article.

Meet the Austin Team!

Posted on May 2, 2019 by -

In Austin, TX we have a small but committed team working together to create communities of health through fresh food.

Brighter Bites Austin staff: L to R Bethany, Jamela, Shelby, Victoria, Veronica, Maggie, Lori, Wendy, Rebeca

The team is led by Program Director Maggie Mangrum, MPH, who has been with Brighter Bites since January 2016. Maggie has led our growth across Austin and forged many new friendships and partnerships with organizations and produce providers across the city. We’re so lucky to have her leadership!

Program Manager Bethany Dawson (L) and Program Director Maggie Mangrum (R)

Bethany Dawson, MPH, has been with Brighter Bites since its first Austin season in the summer of 2015. Bethany moved into her current role a year and a half ago as program manager and additionally manages our internship and volunteer programs. We’re so grateful for all the hard work Bethany has contributed over the years to introduce our program to as many new helpers as we can!

We’re fortunate to have a team of three dedicated program coordinators who together help us create communities of health in all our schools.

Program Associate Veronica Cabrera, Program Coordinator Shelby Koebley, and Intern Victoria Neeranjan (L to R) show off some brightly colored produce!

Shelby Koebley is our most senior program coordinator and leads the Austin “Fun Food Experience”. Shelby joined Brighter Bites around the same time that we moved into our current work space with Farmhouse Delivery and as our kitchen manager has helped foster our great friendship with Farmhouse’s kitchen and warehouse staff.

Program Coordinator Rebeca Hernandez Gonzalez (center), posing with Program Associate Lori Hoadley (L) and Intern Wendy Snowden (R) during “Do the Hula Salsa” week.

Rebeca Hernandez Gonzalez, RDN, was first introduced to Brighter Bites as a dietetic intern in the summer of 2017 and joined the team full time as a program coordinator in the summer of 2018 after graduating with her RDN. Rebeca currently uses her expertise to serve as our nutrition education coordinator.

L to R: Program Coordinator Rebeca Hernandez Gonzalez, Intern Wendy Snowden, Program Coordinator Jamala Mavrakis, and Program Associate Lori Hoadley

Jamela Mavrakis joined Brighter Bites in December of 2018 as a program coordinator and has quickly become an invaluable member of the team by coordinating the Austin volunteer experience as well as leading the new schools that joined Brighter Bites this past spring!

We are incredibly grateful for our three amazing program associates who support our coordinators across the city.

Program Associate Lori Hoadley

Lori Hoadley joined the team with a background in customer service and great experience with conflict resolution that has had a wonderfully calming effect on the team and on our volunteers! Lori will join us this summer and next school year, and we couldn’t be more excited to have her on board for another season.

L to R: Veronica Cabrera, Shelby Koebley, Lori Hoadley

Veronica Cabrera was introduced to Brighter Bites in the summer of 2018 as a counselor at one of our summer sites. As a former classmate of Rebeca, Veronica connected with the program and joined our staff that fall. She makes such a positive impact on the volunteers and kids at our schools, and we’re so excited that she’ll be joining us again for programming in the 2019/2020 school year.

The Austin staff simulating a distribution. L to R: Shelby Koebley, Maggie Whittington, Rebeca Hernandez Gonzalez, Veronica Cabrera, & Mari Garza-Aguirre

Mari Garza-Aguirre was an amazing associate who worked with us last fall. Mari’s experience mentoring youth through the Gus Garcia Recreation Center, which coincidentally is one of our new program sites this summer, added a unique perspective to our team.

Our Austin team was also supported this past year by three fieldwork interns. We hope our interns enjoyed their experience as much as we enjoyed having them on our team!

Intern Wendy Snowden

Wendy Snowden, a biology and nutrition student at UT Austin, has been interning with Brighter Bites since June 2018 and has been absolutely wonderful in the field with our families. This spring, her research project was to gather recipe ideas from families to support the improvement of our recipe development and recipe bank.

Intern Victoria Neeranjan

Victoria Neeranjan joined our internship program last fall to complete her degree in nutrition from Texas State University. Even though she graduated in December, we’re so appreciative that Victoria stayed on with Brighter Bites throughout the spring as well! Victoria has worked to improve our collection of nutrition games that makes up a portion of our signature “Fun Food Experience”.

Intern Carolyn Haskins

Carolyn Haskins interned with Brighter Bites last fall to gain experience with a nutrition nonprofit during her last semester of graduate school at Texas State University, where she graduated with a Master of Science in Nutrition. Carolyn earned the trust of our students and parents alike and was a pro at encouraging students to try our produce-packed recipes each week!

Director of Marketing and Communications Stefanie Cousins

The Brighter Bites Austin team wouldn’t be complete without Director of Marketing and Communications Stefanie Cousins, MPH. While a member of the national team that headquarters in Houston, Stefanie offices with the programming team in Austin at the Farmhouse Delivery office space, often joined by her new pup Daisy. Stefanie is a one-woman show, overseeing all corporate communications, strategic marketing, and branding for Brighter Bites across the country. Fun fact: Stefanie launched the Brighter Bites program in Austin in the summer of 2015. The Austin team wouldn’t be complete without her!

Thanks again to all the wonderful ladies who’ve helped make Brighter Bites a success in Austin, TX!

Behind-the-Scenes in Southwest Florida

Posted on April 4, 2019 by -

In Spring 2018, Brighter Bites brought our mission of creating communities of health through fresh food to Southwest Florida, the most recent region to join our growing network of programs across the country. The move to Florida was a huge geographic jump for us, as the five previous cities we introduced to Brighter Bites were all based in either Texas or the Northeast.

While Brighter Bites has experience expanding to new cities, there was plenty to learn as we began programming in the Sunshine State. We found new friends and partners in the Harry Chapin Food Bank and Lipman Family Farms, and piloted our program in two Immokalee schools.

Our friends at the Harry Chapin Food Bank

The hard work of our dedicated Program Director Marcela Romero, who single-handedly led the program in its first season, paid off, and we’re now thrilled to be growing our program in the region, serving five schools and 1,000 families. The program was recently honored with a grant award by the Naples Children & Education Foundation at the organization’s annual awards ceremony to support our continued programming in the area.

A special part of Brighter Bites in Southwest Florida is the strong familial bond that ties together our staff members, school faculty, and families. Marcela initially grew the program as a one-woman show, and she eventually found the perfect coordinator and associate to back her up. The three women operate today as a dynamic team. You can read more about our Southwest Florida staff here.

L to R: Program Associate Mariana Coronado, Program Director Marcela Romero, and Program Coordinator Rosmery Garcia

The team has been based out of the Naples, FL, office of the Harry Chapin Food Bank since our Spring 2018 inception. We couldn’t be more grateful to work every day next to such an amazing partner.

Of course we wouldn’t be the program we are without our dedicated volunteers who come out each week to lend a helping hand. In Southwest Florida, we’re supported by family and community volunteers at our baggings and distributions.

Some of our most loyal summer volunteers pause for a photo as they assist with a Southwest Florida distribution.

Last fall the Naples Daily News featured Brighter Bites’ work at The Boys and Girls Club of Collier County, where we met our families last summer to continue our programming. The article highlighted how Brighter Bites is challenging food insecurity, food illiteracy, and food deserts in Collier County by providing our families with risk-free access to nutritious produce. Read the story here.

We love serving our Southwest Florida families and always welcome additional volunteers to help us carry out our mission of creating communities of health through fresh food. If you’re interested in volunteering at any of our Southwest Florida sites, visit our volunteer page to see how you can contribute!