Keyword/Tag: Austin

Austin Marathon Less Than Two Weeks Away!

Posted on February 9, 2017 by -

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It’s hard to believe the Austin Marathon is just around the corner! It was actually back in September when we announced here that Brighter Bites had been selected as one of the 27 official charities of the event by the Austin Gives Miles program. Since then, we’ve created a team, raised funds, and developed new partnerships all as a result of our involvement with this event!

If you are still interested in representing Brighter Bites in your race (Marathon, Half Marathon, or 5K) and donating to our team, please click here. It’s not even too late to register for the race, which you can still do here.

The Race Expo is 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 will be there too (along with our new partners at Shipt), handing out crisp red apples to anyone who comes to our booth and giving out t-shirts in exchange for a small donation!

One final note about the big event!

We are looking for 50 volunteers to help out at our Aid Station during the Austin Marathon. As a volunteer you’ll be cheering on more than 14,000 runners and hydrating them as they pass.

The Brighter Bites Aid Station is located at Mile 8 of the Marathon course at “The Rock at Town Lake,” 2102-2104 Stephen F Austin Drive, Austin, TX 78703. This is a well-known meeting place under MoPac located just across the street from Stephen F. Austin High School Tennis Center. Parking is best found around the high school.

So far, the amazing folks at Target have ensured that 25 of their employees will be there bright and early – did we say 6:00am? Our new partners at Shipt are also supplying volunteers from their local Austin membership base.

Who wants to join them? You’ll get two t-shirts (one from Brighter Bites and one from the Marathon), plus some yummy snacks to keep you going all morning. We heard there might even be breakfast tacos at our Aid Station!

Interested? Want to find out more? You must sign up here to join the Brighter Bites Austin Marathon Volunteer Team. We’re looking forward to seeing you on Sunday, February 19, 6:00-10:00am. It’s going to be a blast!

And, if you need more information about the Austin Marathon, the Austin-American Statesman published a great article about it in Monday’s paper that tells you the top 20 things you need to know about this year’s event, including the 18 live bands playing along the course, best vantage points to watch from, the top competitors, and much more.

See you on race day!!

 

Brighter Bites Says “Eat the Rainbow” on Univision Morning Show

Posted on February 6, 2017 by -

 

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Our own Nayely Gutiérrez González, RDN appeared on Austin’s local Spanish-language TV station Univision 62 this morning for her monthly Brighter Bites nutrition chat on Despierta Austin with Leslie Montoya-Rios. Nayely brought in the delicious and nutritious Mango Tango Salsa, developed by Brighter Bites Dallas Program Director Alicia Farhat, RDN, and discussed the importance of “eating the rainbow.” This salsa certainly fits the bill. It contains fruits and vegetables, providing a variety of nutrients to keep a body healthy. Not only are the colors impressive, but it tastes great too! We heard it was a hit at a couple of Super Bowl parties last night!

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Austin.com Features Brighter Bites Program in the Capital City!

Posted on February 1, 2017 by -

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Local media website Austin.com featured the Brighter Bites Austin program in its nonprofit column today. The article tells the history of Brighter Bites in general and focuses on the Austin program in great detail, quoting our staff, utilizing our photos, and shining a light on the components of our unique program.

Read the story here.

 

 

 

Brighter Bites Registered Dietician Interviewed on Univision in Austin

Posted on January 9, 2017 by -

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This morning our very own Nayely Gutiérrez, a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist working with Brighter Bites in Austin, began regular conversations with Leslie Montoya on Univision 62’s Despierta Austin about nutrition and kids. In the first interview, Nayely and Leslie talked about the differences between a child’s palate and an adult’s, and that it takes 10-15 tries to accept a new food. Future conversations will focus on kid-friendly recipes, the importance of eating the rainbow, and the impact of sugary beverages and how to reduce them, among others.

Austin NPR Station Shines Nonprofit Spotlight on Brighter Bites in January

Posted on January 3, 2017 by -

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Brighter Bites is this month’s featured nonprofit in the Get Involved Spotlight at KUT Austin/90.5 FM, the NPR Station in Austin.

Each month KUT spotlights a local nonprofit through radio and, sometimes, video spots. The purpose of the stories is to connect listeners, through volunteering or contributions, with charities that make an impact on Austinites.

Brighter Bites will be featured in radio spots throughout the month of January on KUT 90.5 FM and the short video KUT produced showing Brighter Bites in action will remain on their website along with information about the program.

 

Brighter Bites Wraps up Best Year Yet!

Posted on December 19, 2016 by -

The year 2016 was big in every way for Brighter Bites. We worked with more families and more sites this year than ever before. We developed more recipes, hired more staff, and collaborated with more partners.

But here’s the big news! In 2016, Brighter Bites provided more produce to more families in one year than ever before! In fact, we distributed more than 5,000,000 pounds of produce to almost 20,000 families across more than 100 sites in Houston, Dallas, and Austin in 2016 alone!

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That’s just one piece of news! Brighter Bites distributed more nutrition education materials in 2016 than in years past too — we passed out over 600,000 pieces of nutrition education material to our families this year!

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And, Brighter Bites has given out more recipe samples this year than ever before too! Thousands of families have tasted more than 135,000 produce-based, kid-friendly, recipe samples developed and prepared by the Brighter Bites staff in 2016.

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Brighter Bites would not be where we are today without the ongoing support of our partners and collaborators. Next year is going to be bigger and better! We can’t wait for 2017!

Brighter Bites Austin Hits One Million Pounds!

Posted on November 20, 2016 by -

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The Brighter Bites Austin team is proud to announce a remarkable milestone: since summer 2015, Brighter Bites has distributed more than 1 million pounds of produce to over 3,500 Austin families! The Austin team, made of up Program Director, Maggie Whittington, Program Coordinators Bethany Dawsonand Ellen Orabone and Program Associates Eliza Weeks, Katherine Patchak, and Christina JeanBaptiste, are grateful for the tremendous help they have received from parent and community volunteers, leadership, faculty, and staff at all Brighter Bites schools and camps in reaching this goal.

This moment cannot pass without a shout out to the incredible partners we work with every day at the Central Texas Food Bank. The staff members, pictured below, provide tremendous support to Brighter Bites by sourcing and providing donated produce to our program, storing that produce in the food bank’s warehouse, and delivering it to our sites.

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“I love what Brighter Bites is doing and the way that our missions complement one another,” Bethany Carney, Food Source Manager at the food bank, told the Byte recently. Mike Wooten, the food bank’s Warehouse Manager says, “Contributing to Brighter Bites has been very rewarding.”

This wonderful group of individuals is committed to our success and we are grateful to them everyday. Thanks also goes to PureFlavor, Potandon Produce, and Church Brothers Farms for their generous donations of fruits and vegetables, FreshPoint South Texas for organizing those donations, and to everyone else who has donated to Brighter Bites with their time or otherwise. We could not have reached this goal without you.

Local Austin NPR Station Features Brighter Bites

Posted on November 8, 2016 by -

Media Mention

The local NPR station in Austin, KUT – 90.5 FM, will be featuring Brighter Bites in the station’s KUT Get Involved series in January 2017. This series spotlights a different nonprofit each month to connect KUT’s listeners, through volunteering or financial contributions, with local charities making an impact in the Austin area. Mike Lee, the producer behind the series, interviewed our staff and volunteers (Brighter Bites parent Jose Queiroz, above, was one of them) at Uphaus Early Childhood Center in Austin last week.

Join our Team at the Austin Marathon!

Posted on October 25, 2016 by -

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Did you know that Brighter Bites is one of the 26 Official Charities of the Austin Marathon, Half-Marathon, and 5K? Race day is Sunday, February 19, 2017 and we are looking for runners to join Team Brighter Bites in our race to deliver healthy food choices into the homes, minds, and mealtimes of families in Austin.

Our Goal
For 50 runners to raise $10,000 (at least $200 each), enough to pay for 50,000+ lbs of produce!

Fundraising Levels and Prizes
Hustleberries ($100) – Team Brighter Bites Nalgene bottle
Tater Trots ($200) – Team Brighter Bites tee shirt
Fruitscooters ($300) – 30 pounds of fresh produce and recipes
Root Force ($400) – Engraved YETI Rambler 30
Mighty Melons ($500+) – Brighter Bites will pay your race entry fee

Join our team here and register for the marathon, half-marathon, or 5K here.