Brighter Bites partners with City Harvest in New York City to implement our program at several sites in Queens. The Queens Chronicle profiled Brighter Bites in an article, reporting on our program’s mission to help families eat healthier with free fresh produce, nutritional education, and fun food experiences. Read more about it here!
Media Contact:
Stefanie Cousins
Stefanie.Cousins@brighterbites.org
919-360-4156
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nutrition Education Nonprofit Honored With Prestigious Award from Partnership for a Healthier America
National nonprofit Brighter Bites wins Impact Award from organization creating solutions to ensure children will live healthier lives
Houston, TX (August 6, 2018) — Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), the nonpartisan nonprofit creating solutions to ensure that all children and young adults will live healthier lives announced today that Brighter Bites will receive its annual Impact Award at the September 27 gala in Washington, DC. The PHA Impact Award is presented each year to a group or individual working at the community level to help build a healthier future.
“We are proud to present Brighter Bites with this year’s Impact Award for its service to local communities across the country,” said PHA President and CEO Nancy E. Roman. “Brighter Bites is helping to create access and instill habits around fresh food that has life-long health benefits.”
Brighter Bites was co-founded by Lisa Helfman and Dr. Shreela Sharma in Houston, Texas. Since its founding in 2012, Brighter Bites has donated over 17 million pounds of fresh produce, and 100,000s of nutrition education materials to over 53,000 families struggling to access or afford nutritious food. Brighter Bites programs and nutrition education materials are currently delivered through six programs based in Houston, Dallas, Austin, Southwestern Florida, Washington, DC, and New York City.
The PHA Impact Award recognizes organizations that demonstrate a measurable impact on communities disproportionately facing obesity. Researchers at the UTHealth School of Public Health found that students and families participating in Brighter Bites programs significantly decreased the amount of sugars consumed and increased their intake of fresh fruits and vegetables.
“We know that when families have access to nutritious food and better information, they opt for better health choices,” said Brighter Bites founder Lisa Helfman. “I’m so proud to accept this award on behalf of our incredible team who is working tirelessly to ensure that more kids and families across the country have access to both healthy produce and the nutrition know-how to prepare it.”
Brighter Bites was among four other finalists this year, including The National Fitness Foundation, OPEN – Online Physical Education Network, SuperChefs, and The Walking Classroom Institute.
Brighter Bites will receive the award at Partnership for a Healthier America’s gala in Washington, DC, on September 27. Brighter Bites will share this distinction with The Walking Classroom, which enhances students’ physical, mental, and academic health through exercise.
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 more than 17 million pounds of produce and 100,000s of nutrition education materials to more than 53,000 families and teachers in Houston, Dallas, Austin, New York City, the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area, and Southwest Florida. To learn more about Brighter Bites visit www.brighterbites.org.
Brighter Bites talked to Civil Eats about our three-part formula: Produce Distribution + Nutrition Education + Fun Food Experience. There has been new research indicating that learning to cook at a young age can lead to a healthier and better life in the future! Learn more about it here!
Pasadena Library is now a Brighter Bites site! Listen to what Brighter Bites Senior Program Director Mike Pomeroy and Program Director Emily Kelly have to say have to say about our fun, free, and simple, three-part formula: Produce Distribution + Nutrition Education + Fun Food Experience. Check it out here!
Consuming carbohydrate sources high in vitamins and minerals such as whole grains, fruits, and vegetables allows people living with diabetes to manage their condition while still enjoying the pleasures of eating. Living with diabetes or not, consuming nutrient-dense sources of carbohydrates is an important component of a healthy diet. At every meal, make sure to consume fruits and vegetables, lean sources of protein, and healthy fats. Reduce the intake of added sugars and sodium, too.
Brighter Bites has curated a list of our top 25 diabetes-friendly recipes from across our website. Take a look and try one today!
If you’ve been keeping up with Brighter Bites’s Facebook and Instagram feeds, you know that we have some exciting news we’re bursting to share. Drum roll please…
Brighter Bites is in New York City!
Today marks our very first day of distribution in the Big Apple, where we’ll begin serving our tried and true nutrition education program to students and families of the Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens. Led by our newest Program Director, Melanie Button, the Brighter Bites NYC team will bring the three-step Brighter Bites formula of fresh produce distribution, nutrition education, and a fun food experience to a brand new community.
New York is the fourth city to house Brighter Bites programming (after Houston, Dallas, and Austin) and the first city outside of Texas. This big step for Brighter Bites was taken in collaboration with City Harvest, a New York-based food rescuer and distributor, and D’Arrigo Bros. Co. of New York, a wholesale produce supplier in the New York metro area. This launch coincides with Brighter Bites’ 5th birthday, which we celebrated earlier this week. That’s five years of creating communities of health and over 14 million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables distributed.
How ’bout them apples?
This week’s a biggie for Brighter Bites! Not only are we expanding our programming for the first time outside of Texas (read about our expansion here), but we’re also celebrating Brighter Bites’ 5th birthday.
We’re pretty proud of what Brighter Bites has accomplished in five years. From a seedling of an idea by founders Lisa Helfman and Dr. Shreela Sharma to a full-fledged, research-backed nutrition education program…we’ve come a long way.
Brighter Bites has served over a hundred sites and thousands of students with over 14 million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables. We’ve partnered with great organizations and produce suppliers to bring about healthy lifestyle changes in the underserved communities of Texas, and now we’re heading to New York City to bring the Brighter Bites formula to even more families. As if all of this wasn’t exciting enough, Brighter Bites isn’t slowing down. Over the next few months, we’ll begin programming in two more brand new cities!
At Brighter Bites, we’re incredibly passionate about the power of fresh food and the creation of communities of health. We’re making friends at all of our schools and sharing our message of health and happiness in all of our cities. We can’t wait to see what the next five years has in store. Happy birthday Brighter Bites!
“They like Louisiana cooking. Like my oldest, she just started eating crawfish. She was like ‘I like it whether it’s too spicy to hot just right’. She eats Sushi. Yeah, me and her both started eating sushi” Referring to her youngest, “This one, she would eat pasta all day cause that’s all she would eat. Oh, she would eat fruits and vegetables. They would eat green beans and peas and corn mixed together with a little bit of garlic powder. Now, I’m drinking a lot of smoothies, eating a lot of fruits, and vegetables. I do things like my meat is baked or grilled now, it’s not fried. I still do the pasta every now and then. The only time I have a craving for fried food is if I’m homesick. Other than that I don’t have that craving for it then I won’t make it. The only time I have a craving for fried food is if I’m homesick.”
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.
“I see a difference in the food between Texas and Louisiana. Back at home we would eat like hot sausage, eggs, smoked sausage. We could just go to the store, buy it and go home and do it ourselves. When I came out here, now it’s different. We couldn’t find it and then like when my dad came to visit, he would bring us this ice chest with hot sausage, smoked sausages like the stuff that we used to make a home they didn’t have it out here until we went to Fiesta and found out Fiesta had it. So we can have a piece of home in Texas.”
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.
“I know that diabetes runs in my family. I’m not going to say that I’m really good about what I eat, but for the most part I am aware of it so I do try to make some changes when I can. Now that I have my son, I started to try to get him to eat better. My son honestly does have a problem with being overweight. I tell him what happened when we were growing up and we relied on the commodities. I’m trying to get him to eat vegetables. I am trying to get him to look at things differently. He loves broccoli. He likes celery, cauliflower, and carrots. He doesn’t eat them enough, be he does like them. He loves salads. He is starting to eat better, but we still have to work on that along with myself. I’m aware of the things that are good for me, but I can’t sit here and say that I eat all of the good things. There are things that are more sensible to you at the moment, and with the schedules that we have now, sometimes you just eat on demand.”
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.