News Type: Volunteers on View

Humans of Brighter Bites (July 2017, 2 of 3)

Posted on July 20, 2017 by -

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“At sixteen, I started to work at the Brackenridge hospital. I was able to eat lunch there. That’s when I first started to actually think, you know, broccoli is good. You could put cheese on it or dip it into Ranch dressing. The vegetables were probably there even before I really realized, but that’s when I started to say, I’m going to need to try them all the time. I never tried them because I always felt it wasn’t good if it didn’t come out of a can. I would go through the cafeteria line and I’d see the broccoli and the cauliflower mixed with different things. I remember going home and telling my mom, you know, when I go through the line at the hospital, they have these vegetables. I say, you know what, mom? Maybe that’s something that you could try with us and see if we can get my younger brothers and sisters to start eating that.”

Humans of Brighter Bites is a series that captures how Brighter Bites volunteers, participants, teachers, and supporters connect with food. Check back here for each installment of the current story and each month for a new story.

Humans of Brighter Bites (July 2017, 1 of 3)

Posted on July 19, 2017 by -

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“I come from a family of fourteen. I have eight brothers and six sisters. We were poor, but one thing we always did have was food on the table. My mom was a stay-at-home mom. My dad was in the military but also worked. My mom was the one that was always at home. She would try to give us certain foods to try and eat, but because we were poor we did get services. Back then, they called them “commodities.” Someone came and offered us Spam and things from a can. Back then, gardening wasn’t as big. We did rely on foods that we received, and mainly the ones that I remember were in cans. It wasn’t until maybe fourth or fifth grade that I really start thinking, wow, these carrots and these vegetables come out of the ground. We heard about it, but since we always saw them in cans, we didn’t really think that much about it.”

Humans of Brighter Bites is a series that captures how Brighter Bites volunteers, participants, teachers, and supporters connect with food. Check back here for each installment of the current story and each month for a new story.

Lettuce Celebrate our Dallas Volunteers!

Posted on June 8, 2017 by -

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Come On, Join the Party!

This spring, our teams had the opportunity to celebrate the hard work and heavy lifting of their volunteers. On May 25 the North Texas Food Bank served as party headquarters for Brighter Bites volunteers in Dallas. The celebration honored the amazing group of community members who contributed a total of 7,088 hours towards the bagging and distribution of more than 1.4 million pounds of produce over the academic year! That’s definitely something worth celebrating!

Volunteers were treated to a healthy breakfast buffet featuring egg frittatas and our very own Brighter Bites Apple Cake.

Volunteers were treated to a healthy breakfast buffet featuring egg frittatas and our very own Brighter Bites Apple Cake.

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Representatives from each school show off their fruit and vegetable awards, which celebrate each unique team of volunteers.

Representatives from each school show off their fruit and vegetable awards, which celebrate each unique team of volunteers.

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Volunteers and staff alike couldn't get enough of the dress up options at the photo booth.

Volunteers and staff alike couldn’t get enough of the dress up options at the photo booth.

 

A Taste of Brighter Bites
What does a Brighter Bites celebratory breakfast taste like?

Try our Apple Cake for yourself!

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INGREDIENTS 1½ large red apples, thinly sliced
1 tsp + 1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup + 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1½ cups whole wheat flour
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cloves
1 very ripe banana, mashed
1 egg
½ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extractDIRECTIONSPreheat oven to 350°F and spray a 9×13 baking pan with cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl, combine the sliced apples, cinnamon, and 1 cup of applesauce until the apple slices are evenly coated. Then, layer the apple slices on the bottom of the pan.Next, in a mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients (egg, banana, sugar, vanilla, and the remaining cup of applesauce) and mix with a spoon or an electric mixer until well incorporated. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until everything is well incorporated.Pour the cake batter over the sliced apples and spread evenly. Bake in the oven for 35 minutes and remove when done. Allow the cake to cool, then flip over onto a large platter. Slice into 24 pieces and enjoy!

Three Cheers for Houston Volunteers!

Posted on June 2, 2017 by -

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It’s Time to Celery-brate

This year Brighter Bites was thrilled to provide programming to 50 schools in the Houston area. More schools mean more food to pack and distribute. Thousands of pounds of food may seem daunting to some, but we’ve learned after nearly five years that, when it comes to the Houston community, incredible volunteers are in no short supply.

On May 11th, the Brighter Bites Houston team expressed their thanks with an appreciation party honoring the valuable time and effort donated daily by the volunteers who make the Brighter Bites mission possible.

Approximately 300 party guests were welcomed at the Houston Food Bank with a SNAP cookbook and a beautiful slideshow of photos capturing their hard work at each of the sites. Volunteers proudly cheered as photos of their school flashed onto the screen.

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In true Brighter Bites fashion the party included delicious treats for volunteers to snack on. Everyone wanted a turn on the smoothie bike where they could peddle out a creamy creation. Moments were captured in a fun and festive photo booth, and some party goers even got to walk away with amazing raffle prizes. It was a true celery-bration!


The party gave volunteers from all over Houston a chance to gather in one place and celebrate their achievements! Several shared touching stories about how Brighter Bites has impacted their lives and changed their eating habits profoundly. These personal moments were a true highlight.

 

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The staff of Brighter Bites has the incredible opportunity to work alongside families in their own communities to inspire healthy eating and healthful choices. We are well aware that the program is only made possible by the help of the families and community members who continue to share their time, support, and strength with us. A huge thank you to all Brighter Bites volunteers!

We look forward to working with you for many years to come!

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For more photos of our volunteer appreciation event check out the Album on our Facebook Page!

Humans of Brighter Bites (May 2017, 3 of 3)

Posted on May 19, 2017 by -

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“My mom is a naturalist, so she does not believe in chemical medicine. She hates it. She has a doctor that’s a naturalist as well and he tell us and guides us of what is better for our body to take as far as herbs and spices. Cucumber, celery, cilantro, garlic, and lemon: that is more on the sour end, but it helps a lot with cleaning your system, your kidneys. We’ve seen that turmeric in the last year has been so popular, but my mom’s been using it for years. Those noni plants? We’ve been drinking it for years. I don’t know how you say it here, but the “guanabanana” helps a lot with preventing cancer and it helps with cleaning your system, too. She’s been using that for years. It’s really expensive to get the fruits here, but sometimes my uncles sends her the fruits so that she can juice them. When we get an avocado from Puerto Rico, and we have friends over, they’re like, ‘What is that there?!’ And I’m like, ‘That’s what an avocado really is!’ Because it’s like ten times bigger than the little Hass avocados.”

Humans of Brighter Bites is a series that captures how Brighter Bites volunteers, participants, teachers, and supporters connect with food. Check back here for each installment of the current story and each month for a new story.

Humans of Brighter Bites (May 2017, 2 of 3)

Posted on May 18, 2017 by -

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“My first experience of cooking is with the elders in my family, my grandma and my grandpa. They would prepare the breakfast, the lunch, the dinner. I could always remember, it was oatmeal and coffee for breakfast, so we always had a good breakfast. I always had the best chicken soup because my grandmother made everything from scratch. The vegetables came from her garden, the chicken came from her coop. That’s probably what I miss most about my grandparents – they taught us cooking and eating. My mom learned all the traditions from her mom, and she taught them to us, so I implement them at home. We use a lot of garlic, a lot of olive oil, a lot of onions. In the Puerto Rican culture, we use a lot of cilantro – it’s “culantro.” A lot of natural herbs, which give the food flavor and it takes away from using the salt and the pepper and the products that you have to shake onto food to make it taste good. We don’t use those, which is awesome.”

Humans of Brighter Bites is a series that captures how Brighter Bites volunteers, participants, teachers, and supporters connect with food. Check back here for each installment of the current story and each month for a new story.

Humans of Brighter Bites (May 2017, 1 of 3)

Posted on May 17, 2017 by -

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“I am from Puerto Rico, from an island, so I was used to my whole life being able to walk outside and get an avocado from the tree. All of our food came from the earth. If it wasn’t from the earth and it was meat – my family had the chicken. Everything was natural. Coming to America was a shock because the food didn’t taste the same. Even if you went to the store and bought the fruits and vegetables, the taste is not the same. You have to buy everything already processed. Even the meat tasted different. We didn’t know what a tortilla was until we moved to Texas. It made us unhealthy for a while. In the last few years, I’ve gained so much weight, but I have learned to go back to my culture and look for the fruits and vegetables that we eat every day. I have learned to cook. I have learned to not buy these processed foods and give them to my kids, which is the most important part.”

Humans of Brighter Bites is a series that captures how Brighter Bites volunteers, participants, teachers, and supporters connect with food. Check back here for each installment of the current story and each month for a new story.

Humans of Brighter Bites (April 2017, 3 of 3)

Posted on April 21, 2017 by -

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Bilingual/Bilingüe

“The difference in food or the type of food preparation between Mexico and the United States… well yes, I have noticed a big difference. I see here that many people eat food in packages and this is a big difference because in Mexico you can prepare your food fresh and almost pick the food right out of the field, from the earth. Regarding food in packages, I do not consume them because I believe and feel that even if they fill me up, I will not be nourished because of their preparation process and also because they are always frozen. I will not tell you that I have not tried prepackaged food, but I take great care not to consume them. And if they do not nourish you, do you know what happens? You start to gain weight. If you do not have control in the consumption of these foods, the truth is that you gain weight and that is the fear that I have, therefore I eat as healthy as possible. I think that, just as you get to know certain places, you adapt to a certain type of food. Eating a lot of fat or eating sausages may feed us, but they do not nourish us. I think, for good health, it’s important to further promote a culture of nutritious and fresh food.”

“La diferencia de los alimentos o el tipo de preparación de alimentos entre México y Estados Unidos, pues sí he notado una gran diferencia. Yo veo aquí que mucha gente consume comida en paquetes y esto es una gran diferencia porque en México tu puedes preparar tus alimentos frescos y casi los saca del campo, de la tierra. En relación a la comida en paquetes, no las consume porque creo y siento que, si me van a llenar, pero no me van a nutrir por el proceso de preparación que tienen y además son productos que se pasan todo el tiempo congelados. No te voy a decir que yo no he probado algún alimento de paquete, pero yo cuido mucho de no consumirlos.  Pero si no te nutren, sabes que sucede? Empiezas a subir de peso. Si no tienen un control en el consume de esos alimentos, la verdad, subes de peso y ese es el temor que yo tengo, por eso como lo más sano posible. Yo pienso que, así como vas conociendo ciertos lugares, te vas adaptando al tipo de alimentación. Comer mucha grasa o comer embutidos que tal vez si nos alimentan, pero no nos nutren. Creo que, para tener una buena salud, es importante promover más esta cultura de los alimentos nutritivos y frescos.”

Humans of Brighter Bites is a series that captures how Brighter Bites volunteers, participants, teachers, and supporters connect with food. Check back here for each installment of the current story and each month for a new story.

Humans of Brighter Bites (April 2017, 2 of 3)

Posted on April 20, 2017 by -

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Bilingual/Bilingüe

“There is a very important tradition that takes place in the city of Oaxaca – I do not remember if it is the 24th or 25th of December – where the radish farmers participate in a contest. They sow radishes and sometimes the radishes can weigh about half a ton. On this mass of a radish, they begin to etch out traditional figures. We can observe a farmer pushing his cart and on top of the cart are other peasants who are carrying their backpacks. They are dressed in blankets, with their hats and with a spade with which they plow the earth. In fact, people dress them up as puppets, carry them, and are accompanied by a traditional Oaxacan band. They parade around the downtown streets of the city, and it is a very beautiful celebration. Then also in addition to all of this, it is made known to people that not only is the radish used to make figures, but is a product of the land that also feeds families, like corn. We have many derivatives of corn: the tortilla, the black corn, and the native corn. Imagine how wonderful nature is to have given us all these properties.”

“Hay una tradición muy importante que se realiza en la ciudad de Oaxaca, no recuerdo si es el 24 o 25 de diciembre, donde participan los agricultores del rábano en un concurso. Ellos siembran los rábanos y a veces llegan a pesar aproximadamente media tonelada. Sobre esta masa del rábano ellos empiezan a elaborar figuras tradicionales. Podemos observar algún agricultor empujando su carreta y encima de la propia carreta van otros campesinos que van cargando sus morrales. Están vestidos de manta, con su sombrero y con la pica pala con la que aran la tierra. De hecho, la gente se disfraza de monigotes, los llevan encima, además van acompañados de una banda tradicional de Oaxaca. Recorren las calles céntricas de la ciudad y es una algarabía muy bonita. Entonces también aparte de esto se le da a conocer a la gente que no solo el rábano se utiliza para hacer figuras, sino que es un producto de la tierra que también alimenta a familias, al igual que el maíz. Tenemos muchos derivados del maíz: la tortilla, el maíz negro, y el maíz criollo. Imagínate que maravillosa es la naturaleza que nos brinda todas estas propiedades.”

Humans of Brighter Bites is a series that captures how Brighter Bites volunteers, participants, teachers, and supporters connect with food. Check back here for each installment of the current story and each month for a new story.

Humans of Brighter Bites (April 2017, 1 of 3)

Posted on April 19, 2017 by -

 

Bilingual/Bilingüe

“I remember that at the age of seven I started to eat fruits and vegetables because I watched my father. He loved papaya, pineapple, watermelon, among others. With him, I learned to eat vegetables. I like beet, spinach, onion, tomato, lettuce, and cabbage, and as I grew, I would combine these foods with meat, fish, eggs. Later, at 19 years old, I settled in the state of Oaxaca and there I got to know another type of food. The Oaxacan gastronomy is varied, diverse, and with many flavors in addition to being very seasoned, so I began to try more vegetables and fruits that are found in Oaxaca.”

“Recuerdo que a la edad de siete años empecé a comer frutas y verduras porque veía a mi padre. Le encantaba la papaya, la pina, la sandía, entre otras. Con él aprendí a comer vegetales. Me gusta betabel, espinaca, cebolla, jitomate, lechuga, y col, y conforme fui creciendo fui combinando estos alimentos con carne, pescado, huevos. Posteriormente, a los 19 años de edad, radiqué en el estado de Oaxaca y allí conocí otro tipo de alimentación. La gastronomía oaxaqueña es variada, diversa y con muchos sabores además de ser muy condimentada, entonces empecé a conocer más las verduras y frutos que se dan en Oaxaca.”

Humans of Brighter Bites is a series that captures how Brighter Bites volunteers, participants, teachers, and supporters connect with food. Check back here for each installment of the current story and each month for a new story.