News Type: Events

The Produce Moms Kick Off Food Drive Benefiting Brighter Bites

Posted on May 4, 2018 by -

Brighter Bites is so excited to be the beneficiary of a month-long food drive campaign hosted by The Produce Moms on #GiveHealthy‘s innovative produce drive platform.

The Produce Moms is an organization that educates consumers about fresh produce, introduces them to produce brands, engages the produce industry with consumers in inspiring conversations, and promotes public policy to protect and increase the availability of fresh produce at American schools.

#GiveHealthy is an innovative food drive platform that utilizes crowd-feeding technology to enable the donation of fresh fruits and vegetables rather than canned goods to provide a healthier solution to hunger.

Brighter Bites is thrilled to be working with two organizations so closely aligned with our goals!

For the month of May, you can join our efforts to create communities of health through fresh food by donating to the food drive. Follow this link to visit the #GiveHealthy donation store where you can pick out and purchase healthy food items for Brighter Bites families. Thank you for your support!

What a Weekend!

Posted on April 12, 2018 by -

Brighter Bites is largely known for its produce distribution, nutrition education, and fun food experience during school hours, but we also love to create communities of health on the weekend! This past weekend, Brighter Bites participated in three different events in Houston, Austin, and San Antonio, TX.

Houston: Brighter Bites had a great time running a booth at the Pasadena Open Market, a family-friendly event with local vendors, community partners, music, a face painter, clowns, and recreational activities put on by the Pasadena Parks and Recreation Department. We had so much fun handing out recipes, tip sheets, and bananas to market attendees while spreading the Brighter Bites love!

(Pictured below: Molly Martin, Program Manager, Brighter Bites Houston)

Austin: Our Austin, TX team had participated in the 6th Annual Edible Austin Children’s Picnic. This kidcentric event featured live music, storytelling, an imagination station, and yummy bites from local food vendors. We enjoyed playing a few signature Brighter Bites games, teaching kids and parents alike all about eating the rainbow. It was such a fun day!

(Pictured below: Shelby Koebley, Program Coordinator, Brighter Bites Austin)

San Antonio: Brighter Bites was honored over the weekend at the Viva Fresh Expo, a regional trade show hosted by the Texas International Produce Association (TIPA) that brings together produce growers, suppliers, and distributors from the United States and Mexico.

TIPA selected Brighter Bites as the beneficiary of the 2018 Viva Fresh Open, a golf tournament sponsored this year by Bebo Distributing Inc. and Wonderful Citrus, that donates the tournament’s proceeds to a different charity each year. We were thrilled to be honored by TIPA this spring — it means so much to Brighter Bites that the produce industry is recognizing the impact we are making with their fruits and vegetables on families across the country.

(Pictured below from left to right: Maggie Whittington, Program Director, Brighter Bites Austin; Stefanie Cousins, Director of Marketing & Communications, Brighter Bites; Lisa Helfman, Founder, Brighter Bites; Samuel Newman, Executive Director, Brighter Bites)

 

Brighter Bites joins PMA for SXSW

Posted on March 23, 2018 by -

Brighter Bites’ Austin team recently joined our friends from the Produce Marketing Association (PMA) for a special South by Southwest (SXSW) event. PMA hosted a free, Brighter Bites-themed lunch for SXSW attendees, who came to learn more about both organizations and our innovative partnership.

The event kicked off with a simulated bagging experience in which every lunch attendee became a Brighter Bites volunteer, helping us assemble over 50 bags of fresh produce. Each bag contained seven produce items that were later feature ingredients in the brown bag lunches provided to attendees. While bagging, attendees learned about the Brighter Bites three-step formula and our positive impact on health behavior in Austin and across the country.

While assisting volunteers with the bagging process, Founder Lisa Helfman and Executive Director Samuel Newman also helped explain our mission of creating communities of health through fresh food and how we’re meeting this goal by caring deeply for every person our program encounters.

We had a great experience spending the day at SXSW with our friends from PMA. See some of our favorite snaps from the event below!

You can read more about our event and PMA’s other SXSW engagement activities in an article published by The Produce News here.

LUPE Arte and Brighter Bites Team Up for Lunch

Posted on October 7, 2017 by -

Brighter Bites is all about fun food experiences! Wherever we go, we’re always on the lookout for exciting opportunities to share that message. Our Austin team learned that a local nonprofit, LUPE Arte (Latinas Unidas Por El Arte), put together a mother-daughter event to emphasize healthy lifestyle choices and wanted us to join them for some lunchtime fun. Of course we said yes!

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On the day of the event, mom and daughter teams started their mornings with some yoga and nutrition lessons for putting together a healthy plate. At lunchtime, we introduced them to Brighter Bites and the full menu of recipes they would be preparing for lunch.

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We broke the girls up into four teams and put them to work mixing fruits and chopping veggies (with kid-friendly knives, of course). In just 30 minutes, the girls had prepared a full meal for all 50 participants and volunteers!

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So what was on the menu? We started lunch with our yummy Avocado Cilantro Yogurt Dip, followed by Stoplight Salad and chicken topped with Mango Tango Salsa. We drank our Freshest Agua Fresca and finished off lunch with some Banana Ice Cream. Quite the meal! Can you believe we fit 13 different fruits and vegetables on one plate?!

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As the girls enjoyed their lunch, Brighter Bites staff and volunteers walked around the tables and talked to the girls about eating the rainbow and how to tell Go, Slow, and Woah foods apart.

This was Brighter Bites’ first hands-on cooking experience, and we can’t wait to do more across all our cities! Thanks to LUPE Arte for putting together such an incredible event and including Brighter Bites at lunchtime! And thanks to all the Brighter Bites volunteers for helping the event run smoothly!!

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Eat. Drink. Give. Vote for Brighter Bites.

Posted on August 9, 2017 by -

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We are ready to “leek” the news! Brighter Bites has been selected as one of four local charities to compete for proceeds at the OKRA Charity Saloon (located at 924 Congress Street in Houston) during the entire month of August!

The proceeds at OKRA have been averaging about $16,000 every month, and all of the funds go to the winning charity — now that’s a lot of cabbage! In order to win, Brighter Bites needs to garner the most votes this month. For each drink or food item purchased, you’ll receive one ticket to vote for one of the four charities selected by OKRA’s members. The charity with the most votes at the end of August receives the proceeds from September. Easy peas-y!

So if you live in Houston, or are coming to visit from out of town, grab some friends and stop on by OKRA for a drink! Just be sure to visit the voting booth to place your tickets in our box!…Don’t worry, you can’t miss it! Our design is bright and anything but mediOKRA!  Look for the booth with the Brighter Bites red, recipes cards, and photo booth props! Let us know you voted by posting a picture on social media with our hashtag #brighterbites!
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Brighter Bites is a Houston-based nonprofit founded in 2012 by two Houston women, Lisa Helfman and Shreela Sharma. The mission of Brighter Bites is to create communities of health through fresh food using our formula: produce distribution + nutrition education + fun food experience. We have distributed nearly 14 million pounds of produce and hundreds of thousands of nutrition education materials to more than 30,000 families in Houston, Dallas, and Austin, TX. 

Farmhouse Delivery Gumbo Cook Off to Benefit Brighter Bites

Posted on February 9, 2017 by -

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Mark your calendars! Farmhouse Delivery’s 5th Annual Fais Do-Do & Gumbo Cook Off is nearly here – $25 at the door for tastes from 10+ different gumbos, Real Ale beer, live Cajun tunes, and more, with all proceeds benefiting us, Brighter Bites!

Did we mention it’s over Mardi Gras weekend? Help us celebrate one of the biggest party holidays of the year with the ultimate gumbo throw down and dancing ’til ya drop – all for a great cause!

Think your roux can outdoux the rest? Email lisa@farmhousedelivery.com for details on how to compete in this year’s Gumbo Cook Off.

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What: 5th Annual Fais Do-Do & Gumbo Cook Off Fundraiser
Who: Presented by Farmhouse Delivery, Benefiting Brighter Bites
When: Saturday, February 25, 2017, 1-5pm
Where: Rain Lily Farm, 914 Shady Lane, Austin, TX 78702
Tickets: $25 at the door

Facebook Event Link

 

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!!

 

Pondicheri Community Breakfast to Benefit Brighter Bites

Posted on February 7, 2017 by -

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Brighter Bites is thrilled to announce that Pondicheri, the Indian-fusion restaurant in Houston, has selected us as the beneficiary of its second Community Breakfast of 2017.

Pondicheri serves innovative and nourishing Indian food with traditional Indian flavors infused with local and organic ingredients. Every second Saturday Pondicheri holds a Community Breakfast, donating 50% of their sales from 8:00am-12:00pm to the featured nonprofit. This time it’s Brighter Bites!

Join us at Pondicheri for breakfast this Saturday, Feb. 11, after your morning run or before you start your day. Bring your friends and family. It’s going to be a fun morning!

See you there!!!

Saturday, February 11, 2017
8:00am-12:00pm

Pondicheri
2800 Kirby, Ste. B132
Houston, Texas 77098
Phone: 713.522.2022

Brighter Bites Makes a Splash at APHA!

Posted on November 5, 2016 by -

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Brighter Bites Co-Founder Dr. Shreela Sharma presented the findings from her recently-published research on the impact of Brighter Bites to a full house in Denver last week at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association. Dr. Sharma’s presentation stirred up tremendous interest in Brighter Bites. So much so that the Brighter Bites staff in attendance was inundated with interest from people around the country who want to bring the program to their cities!

Brighter Bites was featured in a number of other presentations, including a Brighter Bites Photovoice study presented by Dr. Sharma and a poster presentation by Dr. Ru-Jye (Lindi) Chuang, a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at UTHealth School of Public Health, and Gregory Bounds, Brighter Bites Director of Analytics about the Health Eating Active Living (HEAL) program administered by UTPhysicians.

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The HEAL program at UT is for women who are pregnant or who have an infant and would like to embrace a healthier lifestyle for themselves and their baby. HEAL includes weekly cooking and exercise classes, breastfeeding support, and fresh produce and nutrition education materials to take home every week through the Brighter Bites program and Legacy of Health.

One special treat worth noting was a round table discussion led by APHA President Dr. Georges Benjamin with participation by four CDC Directors, including current CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden, and the last three CDC Directors Dr. Julie Gerberding, Dr. Jeffrey Koplan, and Dr. David Satcher. These public health leaders discussed the most exciting and challenging times during their tenure as well as what they believe are the most pressing public health issues to tackle right now including the epidemic of opiate overdoses, Zika virus prevention, investment in public health, an HIV vaccine, and a global public health strategy.

The Brighter Bites staff who attended APHA was immersed in public health sessions and well as public health partners. They connected with friends from CATCH, Michael and Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, Sustainable Food Center, and other partner organizations who were presenting at the event. Overall, a great time was had by all who attended.