Over the past two weeks Brighter Bites schools in Austin have been showered with beautiful produce. We’re so thrilled that our families have the opportunity to taste these delicious fruits and veggies. These photos are just a sampling of the Brighter Bites that go home with the 1,600+ families we serve in Austin. A big thank you goes to FreshPoint San Antonio’s generous growers and Central Texas Food Bank’s Sourcing and Warehouse teams for these incredible donations!
Brighter Bites is wrapping up its fourth summer of programming in Houston next week and the team painted the city with loads of colorful produce, returning to seven sites from last summer and adding four new ones. Every week families have the opportunity to take home fruits and vegetables they are already familiar with and some that are new to them. This summer we received many in-season produce donations, including exotic fruits and vegetables like papaya, mango, chayote, okra, cabbage, blueberries, peaches, and spinach.
In addition to the nutrition education handbooks, tip sheets, recipe cards, and fun food samples for our families, we added food demonstrations (how to cut a mango, for example) to our repertoire of educational tools. They not only return home with fresh fruits and vegetables, but also the knowledge of how to use them!
As always, volunteers, parents, and children sampled our nutrition-packed snacks that always incorporate one or more of the produce items in their bags. One week we served Black Bean Dip and initially the kids looked away. After a brave girl tried it, other kids slowly gave in. By the end of the distribution, the entire sample was gone! Other popular recipes this summer have included the Razzle Dazzle Rainbow Salsa and Pineapple Crush Smoothie.
There’s more: program coordinators in Houston have taught over 150 CATCH lessons this summer alone! That’s more than 50 hours of nutrition education in eight weeks! Each week kids learn about physical activity, sugar, fiber, fat, breakfast, fruits, or veggies. We also incorporated the Sunbeatables program that stresses the importance of sun protection. Our staff has loved returning each week to hear what the kids remember from the previous lesson and how they applied that knowledge at home.
A big thanks to the Houston Food Bank and all of our partners that have made it possible for our team to share a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables with communities across Houston this summer. As always, our mission to serve families nutritious, fresh produce and promote behavior change wouldn’t be possible without our faithful parent volunteers who consistently came out to bag and distribute thousands pounds of produce this summer.
This is the third summer of Brighter Bites programming in Dallas! From serving 150 families at three Project Transformation sites in the summer of 2014 to serving approximately 1600 families at 15 sites this summer, we have come a long way. With this growth we have been able to welcome new partnerships with City of Dallas Recreation Centers, YMCA and Girls Inc. of Metropolitan Dallas, Boys and Girls Club of Greater Dallas, and other community centers. The Brighter Bites Dallas team has been working with staff and volunteers at each site every week to bring healthful food choices and nutrition education to participating families.
Thanks to our food bank partner in Dallas the North Texas Food Bank, Brighter Bites has been able to share a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables with families. A total of 295,000 pounds so far this summer and counting! A few of the family’s favorites have been blueberries, mangoes, melons, squash varieties, and radishes. Parent volunteers and their children continue to stop by our sites to lend a hand in the bagging and distribution of all these pounds of produce. Volunteers from several organizations in Dallas, among them the National Charity League – Addison Chapter, have also joined us in this endeavor and they have done a stellar job. Last Spring we clocked in a total of 2,590 volunteer hours, so we’ll see how many more our volunteers will do this summer!
We have also paired some tasty recipes for taste-testing with the produce families are taking home, and so far the Broccoli and Grape Salad is taking the lead as the most enjoyed by the kids, followed closely by the Mango Tango Salsa! In addition to the fresh produce and fun food samples, our Program Coordinators have also been teaching CATCH lessons in the classroom around the clock at Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas Brighter Bites locations and Voice of Hope Ministries. Coordinators have thoroughly enjoyed doing hands on activities with the kids and teaching them some useful tools to lead healthier lifestyles. Other sites like Trinity River Mission and Wesley-Rankin Community Center are doing a superb job at fully implementing CATCH themselves with materials and guidance provided by Brighter Bites.
This has been a successful summer so far, and we have to thank our partners, volunteers, and staff at sites for continuing to support Brighter Bites’ mission to create communities of health through fresh food!
Few of us will ever have the chance to testify in front of a Congressional committee on Capitol Hill. Well, one of our very own here at Brighter Bites has, and we asked her to give us a behind-the-scenes perspective on what really happens…
On Tuesday, June 14, Dr. Shreela Sharma, Brighter Bites Co-founder, received a letter from U.S. Representative Mike Conaway, Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, asking her to testify on behalf of Brighter Bites as part of the Committee’s top-to-bottom review of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The letter requested that Shreela send 25 hard copies of her written testimony, bio, CV, and disclosure of federal funding by Monday, June 20. Needless to say, Shreela found all of that a bit daunting!
Over the next week, she spent nearly all of her waking hours preparing the requested dossier, going through the proper channels to get permission to testify from the University of Texas, and finding someone to hand deliver the documents to Capitol Hill on June 20. Shreela teamed up with Brighter Bites partner-in-crime Lisa Helfman to draft the testimony Shreela would deliver at the hearing and then received feedback on it from theUniversity of Texas System Office of Federal Relations, Feeding Texas, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Sysco, and Cornerstone Government Affairs over the next few days. Allison Roberts at the UT System Office of Federal Relations generously volunteered to make all the copies and run them over to the Congressional Clerk’s office. Shreela should have been relieved, but it was already Monday. The hearing was scheduled for 10:00am on Wednesday! There wasn’t much more time…
On the evening of Monday, June 20, Shreela arrived in Washington, D.C. with Brighter Bites Executive Director Sam Newman accompanying her. Shreela never thought for a minute that the next day would be easy, but really, what could possibly be left to do? All of the documentation had already been delivered to the House, right?
Wrong! Bright and early the next day, Shreela and Sam met with a brain trust of Brighter Bites supporters at the USDA, including Lillian Salerno, Deputy Under Secretary for the Rural Development Mission Area; Katie Fink, Director of External & Public Affairs, Food and Nutrition Service; Jerry Mande; and Bryan Zulko, who together gave Shreela a primer on Congressional hearing decorum and a rundown on what to expect. And, Shreela finally found out who would be joining her panel at Wednesday’s hearing: Dr. Kimberlydawn Wisdom, Senior Vice President, Community Health & Equity, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI; Ms. Susan Foerster, Founding Member, Association of SNAP Nutrition Education Administrators, Carmichael, CA; and Dr. Jo Britt-Rankin, Associate Dean & Extension Professor, Extension Committee on Organization & Policy, Columbia, MO. A distinguished group, to be sure.
Later in the afternoon, Shreela and Sam met with Alice Gomez at Cornerstone Government Affairs, whose job it was to prepare Shreela for the hearing over the next three hours. You see, Shreela’s written testimony had no page requirement, but her oral testimony, the one she would deliver the next day at the hearing, was limited to just five minutes – not 5:01 or 5:10, but 5:00 on the nose. Shreela practiced her testimony many, many times over the next three hours and prepared for an onslaught of queries from committee members the next day with the Cornerstone murder board. That night, Shreela went back to her hotel room to prepare even more. She read her oral testimony 10 times aloud, trying to read it faster and practicing Alice’s suggested pauses and areas of emphasis.
The next morning, Shreela, Sam, and the Cornerstone folks walked over to Capitol Hill. Shreela says she was finally nervous at this point, but she didn’t have too much time to think about it. By the time they got through security, it was about 9:30am. Several people were already waiting in the lobby outside of the hearing room, including Brighter Bites supporters Allison Roberts (Shreela’s heroine from UT), Feeding America’s Director of Nutrition Assistance and Budget Policy, Robert Campbell, and representatives from the USDA and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Shreela had no idea what the room was going to look like, and when the doors opened, she walked into a very grand, bright blue room with oak desks, walnut chairs, an impressive Victorian chandelier, and a gigantic balcony with huge pillars and breathtaking views of the Capitol Building off the hearing room. She said you could feel the history, surrounded by enormous portraits of former Chairmen of the House Committee on Agriculture. Shreela said that it not only gave her a feeling of the past but also a sense of the weighty decisions that have been made on Capitol Hill for hundreds of years.
Shreela only had a few moments to soak it all in before she was introduced to the other panelists, trained on how to turn on and off her mic, reminded to keep an eye on the digital clock at her desk when she spoke, and told where the Democrats and Republicans sit — left and right respectively, believe it or not.
Just as she was about to take a deep breath to relax for a moment, Chairman Conaway walked into the room. True to what Shreela had heard about his adherence to the clock, the Chairman tapped his gavel at 10:00am and the hearing began.
After the Chairman’s opening statement, Shreela delivered her own testimony in 4:55! All Shreela could think was, “Sam is going to be so proud of me!” And she breathed a sigh of relief.
But it wasn’t long before she was in the hot seat again. After each of the panelists had her turn, Chairman Conaway asked Shreela three questions right out of the gate. Shreela says that she was grateful for all of the preparation over the last several days, because she went into “autopilot” and just kept telling herself that she had to get across three points whenever she spoke:
The hearing lasted nearly two hours. When asked what surprised her the most about the experience, Shreela said she was pleasantly surprised by how well Brighter Bites was received. Democrats and Republicans latched on to the Brighter Bites ideal of increasing demand for produce, achieving better health, and mitigating food waste all at the same time. She went on to say that people are impressed when they understand that the Brighter Bites model utilizes partnerships with experts who already work with produce, nutrition education, and low income populations. Brighter Bites brings them all together to establish an efficient, sustainable, and replicable program model.
Following the hearing, Shreela posed for a few photographs on the balcony with a couple of her co-panelists, ate a celebratory lunch with Sam, and flew home to Houston.
Shreela is currently on vacation with her family and cannot be reached for comment.
Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer and it is projected that 1 in 5 people will develop it in their lifetime. A child that has a sunburn or other sun damage is at a greater risk for developing skin cancer later in life.
This summer, the staff at Brighter Bites in Houston wants all of the kids in the Brighter Bites program to not only eat their healthy fruits and veggies, but also protect themselves while they play outside in the summer heat. To that end, we are teaching our Brighter Biters to keep their entire body healthy, including their skin! We have teamed up with CATCH and MD Anderson Cancer Center to introduce the Sunbeatables curriculum to our campers. Sunbeatables is a Pre-K curriculum that teaches kids the importance of sun safety and how to protect themselves from harmful UV rays.
Kids learn how to apply sunscreen, look for shadows outside that tell you when the UV rays are most harmful, and the type of clothes to wear when they are outside for a long time. The kid-friendly lessons introduce sun-safe superheroes that have superpowers of sunscreen, protective hats, protective clothing, shade, and sunglasses. The purpose is not to scare the kids, but to inform them of the risk they take if they frequently get sunburn.
In addition to the sun safety education, the kids are also receiving sunscreen every week during the Brighter Bites summer season. The sunscreen was generously donated by the Katz and Talisman families. They recognized the importance and need of sunscreen for the families that we serve and wanted all of our Houston Brighter Biters to develop health habits around food and sun care over the summer. We hope that all of our families continue to be safe this season while they are at a park, pool, beach, or backyard cookout!
Here are some tips for you to keep your family safe this summer:
• Wear sunscreen (at least SPF 30) every day! Make sure to reapply sunscreen every 1-2 hours; it will rub off with water or sweat.
• Be more protected between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM, when the sun is directly overhead and the rays are most harmful.
• Cover-up! Wear protective clothing if you will be outside for a while.
• Wear sunglasses to protect your eyes from harmful rays. (Make sure they provide UV protection)
• Wear a wide-brimmed hat that shades the face and neck
• Schedule outdoor activities in the early morning or late afternoon when the sun is not as bright
• Be a sun safe role model for others!
Generally speaking, Brighter Bites employees work out of our partners food banks in the cities where we operate. For the past year, however, the Brighter Bites staff In Austin had one desk at the old Capital Area Food Bank — not enough space for our four full-time employees, three part-time employees, and interns.
As of June 22, however, that all changed! All Brighter Bites staff members moved in together under one roof with our partners at the brand new beautiful Central Texas Food Bank building in south Austin. This modern facility will enable the new food bank (with a new name!) to bring more incredible services to Austin and the rest of Central Texas. Here are some stats about the new building with some remarkable comparisons to the old.
The new Central Texas Food Bank has:
– 135,000 sq. ft. in its new facility; the old one had 60,000 sq. ft.,
– 15 loading docks; the old one had 2,
– 2.5 times more dry storage area than the old one,
– 7 times more freezer and cooler space than the old one,
– the ability to distribute more than 60 million pounds of food per year; in the old one that number was approximately 34 million pounds per year,
– the capacity to host 80 volunteers per shift, or 151,000 volunteer hours per year; the old one could host 60 volunteers per shift, or 96,000 volunteers per year,
– a Production Kitchen which will provide the ability to prepare meals for the Summer Food Service Program and Kids Cafe, and will have the ability to cook down and freeze larger quantities of fresh produce and protein, preparing meals out of food that might otherwise have gone to waste
– a Teaching Garden (coming soon!): the half-acre garden will serve first as a teaching garden and second as a food source.
It’s a pretty impressive place. Come visit for a tour or volunteer shift!
This summer Brighter Bites is partnering with a family in Houston to provide free sunscreen and sun care educational materials to families participating at two Brighter Bites locations: Ripley House and KIPP Shine. A huge thank you to The Katz Family and The Talisman Family for their generous donation and for joining Brighter Bites in our commitment to teaching healthy habits early.
Austin 11-year-old Ian McKenna was awarded a $5,000 educational grant from the Sodexo Foundation in Washington, DC this week for creating The Giving Garden. The program grows school and community gardens so children in need can take home fresh fruits and vegetables to their families. Ian named Brighter Bites as the the hunger charity of his choice to also receive $5,000. We are so grateful to Ian and Sodexo Foundation – STOP Hunger. Keep up the amazing work in Austin, Ian!
It’s only the second summer Brighter Bites has been working in Austin, and already we’ve more than doubled the number camps where we’ve added our programming! This summer families whose children attend camp at the Andy Roddick Foundation’s Summer Learning Program at Pecan Springs Elementary, East Side Communities YMCA, and Mainspring Schools are joining our ranks, receiving nutrition education and 30-35 pounds of produce each week camp is in session. We’re returning to our beloved campers at El Buen Samaritano and Sunrise Community Church too. Thanks to this organization and the Central Texas Food Bank for making it happen!
School has only been out for a week and the Brighter Bites Houston staff began summer programming at 10 camps this week, serving approximately 1000 families.
No photos of our summer programming yet, but check out our Recipes page for some cool, healthy snacks!
Happy Summer!