Brighter Bites and Hardie’s Fresh Foods partnered to distribute produce during the height of COVID-19. Read more about this collaboration in the produce publication, And Now U Know.
Brighter Bites/Hardie’s Distribute Produce During COVID-19 Crisis
Keyword/Tag: Hardie's Fresh Foods
COVID-19 Update from Brighter Bites
Dear Friends,
We are all witnessing and living through one of the most challenging times in modern history.
Like all of you, Brighter Bites is adapting to the new reality brought on by the coronavirus outbreak.
Our number one priority is the health and well-being of our employees and the families and communities we serve. For that reason, we are following protocols to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
Brighter Bites understands that families need fresh, nutrient-rich food to keep them healthy, and we are making every effort to find distribution mechanisms to ensure they receive it.
While the schools we partner with are closed, Brighter Bites is working with community stakeholders to develop alternative opportunities for distributing produce to families in the cities where we operate.
We are also working with our produce partner suppliers to redirect donated produce to our local food banks and working with our supply chain to help continue that process moving forward.When we aren’t able to distribute fresh produce, we are making nutrition education and healthy recipes available to our families electronically to help them make the most of the food they do have while they are at home with their children. You can access healthy recipes here and tips and tools for cooking at home here.
Here are some examples of how Brighter Bites is supporting our communities this week:
Our Southwest Florida team distributed fresh produce to more than 500 families at the Bethel Assembly of God in Immokalee, FL with the help of so many community partners. Harry Chapin Food Bank, Southern Specialties, Freedom Fresh, and B&W Quality Growers collectively donated 12 different produce items. The Blue Zones Project in SWFL donated reusable bags. Collier County Schools and the Benison Center made the event possible.
Staff and volunteers in Austin packed 830 bags of fresh fruits and vegetables for families whose children attend Cook, T.A. Brown, and Harris Elementary Schools in Austin ISD. Thanks to Hardie’s Fresh Food for their incredible support during this challenging time.
At PS 151Q in Woodside, Queens we provided 300+ Brighter Bites families and local community members with 4,586lbs of organic grapes, oranges, and pantry bags pre-packed by our incredible partners at City Harvest.
We are living in a rapidly changing environment and in the coming weeks we’ll be making our best efforts to identify ways to regularly support our families with fresh, healthy foods and nutrition education alongside our local food banks and city partners. Above all else, the health and safety of our employees, families and communities will remain our focus.
Brighter Bites is grateful for the continued support and understanding from our families, partners, donors, supporters, and stakeholders. As uncertain as things are, we know we will get through this by working together.
We wish you and your family good health and safety as we navigate the coming weeks.
Yours sincerely,
The Brighter Bites Team
Brighter Bites Names Top Donor Partners of 2018-19
Today, Brighter Bites announces its top donor partners from across the produce industry.
Together these eight organizations helped donate produce that Brighter Bites distributed to 27,000 families in Houston, Dallas, Austin, New York City, the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, and Southwest Florida during the 2018-19 academic year.
Brighter Bites Top Donor Partners are:
• The Coastal Companies Foundation
• D’Arrigo Bros. of New York
• Hardie’s Fresh Foods
• Lipman Family Farms
• Mann Packing
• Southern Specialties
• Sysco Freshpoint
• Taylor Farms Texas
Brighter Bites would not be possible without the remaining produce and logistical support that come from our Feeding America Food Bank partners who include the Houston Food Bank, North Texas Food Bank, City Harvest, Capital Area Food Bank, and Harry Chapin Food Bank.
“Our ability to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to our families is completely dependent on the support of our partners,” said Brighter Bites CEO Rich Dachman. “The generous donations of produce from these partners and other suppliers, alongside our extraordinary partnerships with our food banks, allows us to achieve our mission of improving the health of our society, especially those who have fewer resources. I believe our industry has a responsibility to utilize its produce to fight the childhood obesity epidemic and improve health outcomes. I challenge all in the industry to get involved. Brighter Bites is a great place to start so we can scale our program to reach even more communities in need of fresh food and better health.”
A student at “Joe” May Elementary School in Dallas enjoys apples donated to Brighter Bites by Taylor Farms Texas.
This Brighter Bites announcement was reported by the following publications:
The Produce News
The Packer
Perishable News
And Now U Know
An Inside Look at Brighter Bites in Dallas, Texas
This past school year, the Dallas team served families at 20 programming sites. Learn all about the program and meet the folks who make it possible!
Behind the Scenes of Brighter Bites: Austin Edition
Since the summer of 2015, Brighter Bites has been hard at work creating communities of health in Austin, TX. Learn how the Austin team has embraced the city’s start-up culture to spread our passion for produce across town.
Meet our Austin Partners
Our primary partners in Austin are Hardie’s Fresh Foods and FreshPoint South Texas.
The Austin team tours a Hardie’s facility.
Hardie’s Fresh Foods, a for-profit produce distribution company, provides the operations support for the Austin program. They donate time, energy, and resources to help our program run each week. Hardie’s employees from various departments help us purchase, receive, and store produce in their warehouse and then build pallets and deliver all of the produce to our schools. Hardie’s Fresh Foods continues to play an integral part in the success and expansion of our program in Austin.
Hardie’s employee Jose helps position his truck to unload produce for a Brighter Bites bagging
FreshPoint South Texas provides support with sourcing and delivering produce from Mann Packing, Church Brothers, Pure Flavor, and Potandon, among others, each week. Working with FreshPoint South Texas has allowed us to increase the variety of produce in our bags and even work with local Texas farmers from time to time!
A student at Jordan Elementary holds the Caulilini donated by produce company Mann Packing.
This past year, Brighter Bites Austin took on the challenge of entering 10 new schools in addition to returning to two existing schools. As such, the teamwork of school principals, parent support specialists, and teachers became another one of our essential partnerships that played a huge role in the success of our programming. We are consistently blown away by the support and energy of the individuals leading and educating Austin’s youth! Learn about some of our staff and volunteer superstars here.
Volunteers gather for a group photo at Jordan Elementary, one of our new spring 2019 sites.
Of course, Austin’s great success this year is also due in large part to our dynamic team. You can learn all about the fantastic ladies who help the program shine in Austin in our special staff spotlight.
The Austin team pauses during a team meeting to a snap a pic.
We are so grateful to our incredible partners who generously support the Brighter Bites program in Austin, TX: Hardie’s Fresh Foods, FreshPoint South Texas, St. David’s Foundation, Walmart, and Target, among others. Sending a special thank you for all of our partners’ great generosity and support!
Students at Wooldridge Elementary prepared thank you posters for our partner Hardie’s Fresh Foods.