NAPLES, FL – Brighter Bites, a national nonprofit that delivers fresh fruits and vegetables directly into families’ hands, is pleased to announce it has received a $15,000 Food and Nutrition Security Grant from the Collier Community Foundation. These funds will support the Brighter Bites 2024-2025 school year program across all Southwest Florida sites, serving 4,200 students and impacting over 1,800 families.
Lipman Family Farms, a major produce partner, was featured in the Naples Daily News for its continued contributions to Brighter Bites and their shared partner, the Harry Chapin Food Bank.
Brighter Bites was one of the charities that benefited from this year’s Naples Winter Wine Festival. The festival is run by the Naples Children and Education Foundation. Fox 4 in Naples covered the event.
BRIGHTER BITES PARTNERS WITH HARRY CHAPIN FOOD BANK & LIPMAN FAMILY FARMS TO DISTRIBUTE PRODUCE TO STUDENTS & FAMILIES IN SOUTHWEST FLORIDA
Naples, FL (June 15, 2021) – Brighter Bites, a nonprofit organization that delivers fresh fruits, vegetables and nutrition education resources directly into families’ hands, partnered with Harry Chapin Food Bank and Lipman Family Farms to ensure Southwest Florida families continue to receive produce after the pandemic impacted their communities.
At the beginning of the 2021 semester, the three organizations increased its number of families served to over 930, resulting in more than 266,000 pounds of produce distributed and 10,477 boxes delivered to students, their families, and teachers. Each box contained Brussels sprouts, asparagus, eggplant, green beans, apples, oranges, and other items. Thousands of nutrition education materials were also distributed directly to participating Brighter Bites families along with in-class lessons conducted on a regular basis at schools.
“Brighter Bites is so grateful to Harry Chapin Food Bank and to Lipman Family Farms for their support during this unusual school year,” said Brighter Bites Senior Program Director Mike Pomeroy. “Both organizations stepped up to help as soon as the pandemic crisis hit in 2020, providing produce donations and volunteer assistance. This assistance proved to be essential as we continued to serve families at our six elementary schools in Florida.”
In addition to monetary and product donations, Harry Chapin Food Bank and Lipman Family Farms both provided volunteer support with produce sorting, packing and box distribution. This additional assistance on the ground during this crucial time was much needed and appreciated by Brighter Bites’ staff as well as the elementary schools’ teachers and administrators.
“It was a true collaboration as our organization, Brighter Bites and Lipman Family Farms worked to meet the needs of the community in Southwest Florida during the 2020-2021 school year,” said Harry Chapin Food Bank President and CEO, Richard LeBer.
Brighter Bites, which is based in Houston, is dedicated to creating healthy communities by providing produce and nutrition literacy to families in cities throughout the country. The organization works with families in over 120 school settings in seven cities, with each family receiving approximately 25 pounds of fresh, seasonal produce and nutrition education on a weekly basis.
“We are pleased to be a part of these great initiatives launched by Brighter Bites in the Immokalee/Naples area,” said Jaime Weisinger, Director of Community Relations and Government Relations at Lipman Family Farms. “We value our incredible partnerships with Brighter Bites and Harry Chapin Food Bank, and we look forward to making an even greater impact in the coming years.”
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About Brighter Bites:
Brighter Bites is a nonprofit that creates communities of health through fresh food with the goal of changing behavior among children and their families to prevent obesity and achieve long-term health. Brighter Bites is an evidence-based, multi-component elementary school, preschool, and summer camp program that utilizes reliable access to fruits and vegetables, nutrition education, and consistent exposure to recipes and messages that feature fresh food. Since 2012, Brighter Bites has provided nearly 40 million pounds of produce and millions of nutrition education materials to more than 475,000 individuals (including teachers) in Houston, Dallas, Austin, New York City, the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area, and Southwest Florida. In February 2021 Brighter Bites expanded its programming to Salinas, California. To learn more about Brighter Bites visit www.brighterbites.org.
About Lipman Family Foundation:
Lipman Family Farms is a full-service tomato and vegetable company operating in both open-field and protected agriculture. Lipman is the largest open-field tomato grower in North America. Lipman also specializes in greenhouse-grown tomatoes and vegetables, with greenhouse operations in Nebraska, Canada, and Mexico. Lipman’s seed-to-shelf supply chain control – research and development, farming, processing, repacking, logistics and marketing – delivers the consistency and quality that has made Lipman Family Farms North America’s most dependable source of fresh tomatoes and vegetables. The Lipman Family Foundation’s commitment to being “Good from the Ground Up” means creating lasting impact in the communities in which they operate. With a focus on supporting children, education, and hunger relief, they are proud to be involved in a variety of initiatives across the country. Learn more at www.lipmanfamilyfarms.com.
About Harry Chapin Food Bank:
Harry Chapin Food Bank, a member of Feeding America, is the largest hunger-relief organization in Southwest Florida. The food bank rescues food that would otherwise go to waste and distributes it to children, families, seniors and veterans who are hungry through a series of food distribution programs that feed more than a quarter of a million people each month. Harry Chapin Food bank distributed $59.5 million dollars’ worth of food in fiscal year 2020. Through our food distribution programs, we supplied nearly 34.2 million pounds of food and other grocery items, including 9.6 million pounds of fresh produce. The food is the equivalent of 28.5 million melas distributed to those who are hungry. Our membership with Feeding America enables us to amplify our food and distribution efforts and bring in food from various retail and grocery stores, national food producers and distributors and growers locally, nationally and even internationally. Harry Chapin Food Bank is proud to be named a Blueprint Partner by the Naples Children & Education Foundation (NCEF), the founding organization of the Naples Winter Wine Festival. Harry Chapin Food Bank is also a United Way partner agency. For more information or to make a gift, call 239.334.7007 or visit harrychapinfoodbank.org.
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
In Spring 2018, Brighter Bites took our mission of creating communities of health through fresh food to Southwest Florida. Learn all about the people, program, and partners who make Brighter Bites shine in the Sunshine State.
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!
Brighter Bites is fortunate to work closely with several incredible partners in Southwest Florida, including the Harry Chapin Food Bank, Lipman Family Farms, Southern Specialties, and The Blue Zones Project. Get to know a little about each of the organizations below!
The Harry Chapin Food Bank, a leading force for ending hunger in Southwest Florida, provides Brighter Bites with produce and handles all of our logistics. They additionally welcomed our team into their Naples, FL office space, where our three staff members handle the behind-the-scenes work of running Brighter Bites.
Our friends from the Harry Chapin Food Bank!
Lipman Family Farms is America’s largest field tomato grower and the lead funder of our program in Southwest Florida. Lipman is always willing to lend a helping hand with extra produce and logistics support when our program needs it. Juan Vila is one of Lipman’s super star employees who always goes above and beyond to make sure Brighter Bites gets all produce to the schools on time.
Southwest Florida Program Director Marcela Romero and Senior Program Director Mike Pomeroy take a tour of Lipman Family Farms
Southern Specialties is a produce distributor who helps ensure Brighter Bites gets to share a wide variety of produce with our families so they can try fruits and veggies they’ve never tasted before. Southern Specialties has introduced our families to sugar snap peas, white asparagus, and escarole, just to name a few!
A student at RCMA Immokalee Community School shows off some asparagus donated by Southern Specialties
We’re also excited to partner with the Southwest Florida chapter of The Blue Zones Project, a community-by-community initiative designed to enable community members to live longer, happier lives with lower rates of chronic diseases and a higher quality of life. The Blue Zones Project is a great community partner who always invites us to their events and help us spread the word about Brighter Bites in the region.
Join us in thanking our incredible Southwest Florida partners!
The Produce Retailer, a leading source for news on produce operations, reported on Brighter Bites’ expansion to Southwest Florida and our new partnerships with Harry Chapin Food Bank and Lipman Family Farms. Read their coverage here.
AndNowUKnow, an online news media company, reported on Brighter Bites’ partnerships with Lipman Family Farms and the Harry Chapin Food Bank upon our expansion to Southwest Florida. Read their coverage below and click here for the full story.
Fri. April 27th, 2018
By Kayla Webb
FORT MYERS, FL – Lipman Family Farms is setting its sights on what it can do to increase exposure to fresh fruits and vegetables for families in underserved communities. Teaming up with Harry Chapin Food Bank and Brighter Bites, a nonprofit organization that helps create communities of health through fresh food, Lipman Family Farms is launching school-based programs to encourage healthy eating by providing fresh produce, nutrition education materials, support of in-class education, and healthy recipes to families in South Florida.
Jaime Weisinger, Director of Community Relations and Government Relations, Lipman Family Farms“Over the past couple of years, Lipman Family Farms has donated tomatoes to Brighter Bites programs in Houston, Dallas, and Austin, and we’ve been proud of our association with the program and its impact on so many lives,” said Jaime Weisinger, Director of Community Relations and Government Relations, Lipman Family Farms. “When there was an opportunity to bring the program to Southwest Florida, we jumped at the chance. Brighter Bites fits every part of our philanthropy strategy, and we’re thrilled to be donating even more produce to Brighter Bites right here in our own backyard.”
According to Feeding America, nearly 40,000 individuals in Collier County, 36 percent of whom are children, lack consistent access to nutritionally adequate food. To remedy that, Brighter Bites is running programs this spring and summer that will provide more than 75,000 pounds of produce and thousands of pieces of nutrition education materials to over 600 families and teachers at Lake Trafford Elementary School, Eden Park Elementary School, and the Boys and Girls Club in the Collier County School District. Lipman Family Farms and Harry Chapin Food Bank are supporting the initiative and doing their part by donating thousands of pounds of fresh fruits and veggies, warehousing, and transportation services.
Samuel Newman, Executive Director, Brighter Bites“Local partnerships are critical to the success of our organization and the impact we have on the communities where we work,” said Samuel Newman, Executive Director of Brighter Bites. “We could not be happier to be partnering with two of the most trusted organizations in the region.”
Within the initiative, a simple formula is used to introduce healthy lifestyles to families that includes produce distribution, nutrition education, and encouraging families to sample delicious and fun recipes. Parents and community volunteers also pack bags of fresh fruits and veggies for families and teachers to take home each week over the course of three eight-week sessions. Each free two-bag set contains approximately 50 servings of 12 different produce items.
Richard LeBer, President and CEO, Harry Chapin Food Bank“Many hungry families struggle to eat healthy food on a budget. Teaching them how to do that is an important priority for us,” said Richard LeBer, President and CEO of Harry Chapin Food Bank. “That’s why we’re very excited to bring Brighter Bites’ effective programs to Southwest Florida.”
According to a press release, research shows the Brighter Bites model provides consistent opportunities for children and their families to practice healthier behaviors in school and at home, with 98 percent of parents reporting their children eating more fruits and vegetables thanks to the Brighter Bites program and 74 percent maintaining that increased level of consumption after the program ends. Children and parents participating in Brighter Bites also reported:
Since launching in 2012, Brighter Bites has distributed more than 16 million pounds of produce and over 100,000 nutrition education materials to 40,000 familiesthrough elementary schools, preschools, and summer camps. Southwest Florida is the sixth Brighter Bites program to launch after Houston, Dallas, Austin, New York City, and Washington, D.C.
For more news like this, stay tuned to AndNowUKnow.
