A Letter from Brighter Bites Executive Director Sam Newman

Dear Friends,

One year ago this week I came on board as the Executive Director of this incredible organization, Brighter Bites. I knew that it had considerable momentum and that the challenge before us was significant, but what I didn’t grasp fully was that it would be like jumping aboard a moving airplane (an airplane that we continue to build as we fly it).

Fortunately we have help, and together with our growing list of Partners we made 2016 a very big year, working with more families and in more sites than ever before. Last year alone we distributed more than 5,000,000 pounds of produce to nearly 20,000 families in over 100 sites in Houston, Dallas, and Austin. We hired key staff, developed more healthy recipes than ever, and distributed over 600,000 pieces of nutrition education material.

We start our spring semester programming this week, and I can already tell you that 2017 is going to be even bigger.

A few days ago, the Austin NPR station KUT/90.5 FM began featuring Brighter Bites for its nonprofit focus in January. If you’ve ever wondered what Brighter Bites looks like in action, here’s KUT’s video of our program at the Anita Uphaus Early Childhood Center in Southeast Austin. Give it a look, and consider how you might help us Create a Community of Health through Fresh Food where you live.

– Log volunteer hours at one of our sites in Houston, Dallas, or Austin.
– Partner with us to help reach more families, more communities, and more cities.
– Help us change the eating behaviors of our children so they enhance their vitality.

Brighter Bites would not be where we are today without the ongoing support of our volunteers, partners, collaborators. To that end, a big thank you to Feeding Texas and the food banks with which we work (Houston, North Texas, and Central Texas), H-E-B and Sysco, the CATCH Global Foundation, UTHealth School of Public Health, and all our day-in-day-out compatriots who will help us make 2017 our biggest year yet. Let’s keep a good thing growing – join us.

All the best,

Sam Newman
samuel.newman@brighterbites.org