Keyword/Tag: City Harvest

Brighter Bites & Key Partners Relaunch in NYC Schools, Delivering 1M lbs of Free Produce to Children

Posted on November 2, 2020 by -

Media Contact:

Melanie Button, Regional Program Director

melanie.button@brighterbites.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Brighter Bites Relaunches in NYC Schools to Deliver 1 Million Pounds of Free Produce to Children and Families

Brighter Bites, the Connected Chef, D’Arrigo New York, and City Harvest join forces to impact 2,600+ families across 12 schools

New York, NY (November 2, 2020) – Brighter Bites returned to NYC schools in October with a promise to deliver 1 million pounds of free, fresh fruits and vegetables, along with nutrition education resources, to children and their families despite the ongoing pandemic. The evidence-based program feeds with impact by pairing 20-25 pounds boxes of produce with nutrition education for parents and their children. The program will serve thousands of families at participating schools in Woodside, Astoria, East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Brownsville, Bushwick, Manhattan Valley, and Hamilton Heights.

Brighter Bites relaunched its program with the Connected Chef, D’Arrigo New York, and City Harvest on the heels of a new report showing how the COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated and exacerbated persistent food access problems throughout New York City. Communities that lack consistent access to healthy affordable food concurrently experience high rates of food insecurity and diet-related diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and complications from COVID-19. The Brighter Bites program responds to these concerns with a targeted, school based program that focuses on addressing the needs of families safely.

City Harvest has committed 30,000 pounds of produce per week for the program with Hunt’s Point based distributor D’Arrigo New York committing an additional weekly donation of hard to source family favorites such as bananas, pears, peaches and more. “We are thrilled to be teaming back up with Brighter Bites to service the city that we love.” said Gabriela D’Arrigo, VP of Marketing and Communications at D’Arrigo New York. “With all the uncertainty that 2020 has brought, access to healthy nutrition should not be another ‘thing’ to add to the list of concerns for families.”

Distributions began on October 7th and will continue weekly throughout the school year. During the first weeks of the program families took home 10-12 items, including tomatoes, bananas, onion, pears, apples, cauliflower, cucumber, celery, peaches, winter squash, and more. Distributions are planned to continue regardless of whether or not schools remain open for in-person learning. As part of the program, Brighter Bites supports a ‘train the trainer’ model in which teachers teach in-class (or virtual) nutrition lessons. Additionally, parents utilize the Brighter Bites App to access a vast library of recipes, tip sheets, and produce how-to’s, ensuring that they have the knowledge and skills to incorporate the produce into home cooked meals and snacks.

“The ground is shifting under parents’ feet every day,” said Melanie Button, Regional Program Director, Brighter Bites. “Families can rely on our program for ready access to fresh, immune-boosting foods throughout the year. The communities we serve have been especially hard hit by COVID-19 and the food we provide is more critical than ever.”

The produce first travels to the Long Island City headquarters of The Connected Chef where it is packed into family friendly boxes before it is received at each school. During a typical year, this packing would have happened via parent volunteers at each school. Due to COVID-19, large groups of parents cannot convene at schools to do so. The Connected Chef’s experience with their LifeLine delivery program, which provides weekly deliveries of nutrient-dense foods to Western Queens residents, made them the perfect choice to be hired by Brighter Bites to oversee the produce packing and delivery. As an added benefit, funds from the Brighter Bites program will allow The Connected Chef to build out their distribution center as a resource for Queens and Brooklyn mutual aid groups.

Brighter Bites is seeking contributions to sustain this work over the full 2020-2021 school year. Those interested in learning more or making a donation may visit www.brighterbites.org/fund/newyork. A donation of just $15 provides a month’s worth of produce for a participating family.

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 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. To learn more about Brighter Bites visit www.brighterbites.org.

Brooklyn Borough President & Brighter Bites Distribute Fresh Produce

Posted on June 12, 2020 by -

 

The Brighter Bites team is proud to partner with United for Brownsville – a Brooklyn-based community organization – and Riverdale Avenue Community School as it distributes fresh produce to Brooklyn residents.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams has been on hand to help. Brooklyn-USA.com, the Borough President’s web portal showcased the program last week. For more information see the following press release featured on Brooklyn-usa.org.

Brighter Bites NYC and Partners Deliver Fresh Produce to Thousands in Queens

Posted on May 15, 2020 by -

 

Brighter Bites, along with Queens Together, The Connected Chef and City Harvest, have launched an emergency initiative aimed to ensure that current Brighter Bites’ Queens-area families continue to receive the produce they were receiving before COVID-19 impacted its community. This program includes door delivery service, which fills the communities’ needs without putting families at risk and disrupting their everyday routines.

This program made quite the splash in the local NYC media. The following organizations covered the story – hyperlinks embedded where available:

Distributions began on April 28 and will continue weekly as long as necessary. City Harvest has pledged 40,000 pounds of produce for distribution to families, including those in Jackson Heights, Woodside, Astoria, and East Elmhurst. All of these Queens neighborhoods have been especially hard hit during the pandemic.

“Brighter Bites NYC is incredibly proud to partner with these local New York organizations to distribute nutritious food to families suffering during this time,” said Melanie Button, Regional Program Director, Brighter Bites. “As an organization, we were adamant that school closures would not stop us from continuing to feed families but we knew that we would need to shift our model. We were impressed with what Queens Together was accomplishing and we reached out to see if they could support. They turned out to be the perfect partner to connect us with the right people and places to get this work done. That initial email sparked an incredible partnership and an amazing, community based, ground operation. Our work has been described as “grassroots but gargantuan” and we couldn’t agree more.”

Prior to the partnership, The Connected Chef served others in need in the community through their LifeLine delivery program. Their expertise in running the LifeLine program made them the perfect choice to execute a produce delivery program of this scale. The program will serve the 2,000 families who are enrolled in the Brighter Bites program at six schools in Queens. The program also aims to support the local economy, by re-employing chefs and cooks who have lost viable sources of food due to shortened hours and job losses to pack and deliver the produce.

Brighter Bites is a nonprofit with the mission of creating communities of health through fresh food. Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, the organization served over 25,000 families nationwide enrolled in the program across 100 schools, with each family receiving 25 lbs. of fresh produce and nutrition education on a weekly basis. Then COVID-19 hit, schools shuttered, and families lost access to this fresh produce they were dependent on for daily nourishment.

“Queens Together is so pleased to be a part of this initiative,” said Jonathan Forgash of Queens Together. “We look forward to continuing this program and finding new ways to identify, package, and deliver nutritious food to those in desperate need across Queens.

 

COVID-19 Update from Brighter Bites

Posted on March 20, 2020 by -

 

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 NYC – Behind the Scenes

Posted on January 29, 2019 by -

When Brighter Bites was founded in 2012 in Houston, TX, we had big dreams for our organization. We knew that food illiteracy and a lack of access to fresh produce for low-income families didn’t stop at the Texas border, and we wanted to create communities of health through fresh food everywhere we could go. In the fall 2017, after celebrating our organization’s fifth birthday, we took our program out of Texas for the first time and to the biggest city of them all — New York City.

In preparation for our big move, we worked hard to make sure we could have the same impact in New York City that we’d replicated in so many Houston, Dallas, and Austin schools. While our program’s core, three-part formula of produce distribution, nutrition education, and a fun food experience didn’t need to change, we had a few logistical details to work out to be able to deliver our signature eight to twelve varieties of fresh produce to all our families in such a densely populated area.

Our first step was finding New York-based partners who believed in our organization just as much as we did. Melanie Button, our program director in NYC, introduced us to some of the incredible friends and partners we’ve made in NYC.

“Expanding to the Big Apple was definitely a match made in heaven, thanks to the wealth of partners we’ve been able to work with. In New York, our core partner is City Harvest, NYC’s largest food rescue organization, who will distribute 61 million pounds of food across the city this year, almost half of which will be produce. Brighter Bites is able to select donations from their incredible inventory to send to our school locations. New York City is also the largest school district in the country with over 1.1 million students and 1,700 schools. By programming here, Brighter Bites has an opportunity to impact thousands of families over the next few years as we build a community of health across the five boroughs.

“Of course, our families are our most important partners, without whom we could not work. Our support from parent volunteers has been incredible, with some sites clocking in at 90+ volunteers each week in what may be an unofficial Brighter Bites record. Our program truly takes a village and we simply couldn’t do it  without the support of all these individuals and organizations.

“D’Arrigo is the cherry on top of our produce – literally! I will never forget the multiple pallets of cherries they sent during our first few weeks of programming during the summer of 2017, leading our families to call distribution days ‘Fruity Fridays.’ As we’ve grown in NYC, they continue to support our program by sending weekly donations of perishable, high-value items such as plums, bell peppers, and berries that are traditionally harder for our food bank partners to source. We are so grateful for the generosity of D’Arrigo which allows our families to receive an exciting mix of fruits and veggies each week!”

Of course, our NYC program wouldn’t be the same without its leader and program director, Melanie Button. Read our spotlight on Melanie here!

Brighter Bites NYC Program Director Melanie Button and City Harvest driver Ade McCoy

Melanie is supported by Program Coordinator KayJoon Quispe, Program Associates Judy Hsu, Amina Khawja, and Brianne Ross, and an amazing group of interns and dedicated students (read about them here). The team operates Brighter Bites at five public schools in Queens. Check out which ones here.

Program Coordinator KayJoon Quispe

 

Group photo of staff holiday luncheon at WeWork. L to R back row: PD Melanie Button, PA Judy Hsu, PA Brianne Ross, PA Amina Khawja, Lisa Helfman, Intern Christopher Jackson, Front Row: City Harvest warehouse specialist Kim Conchada, PC Kayjoon Quispe

Many City Harvest staff members have also gone above and beyond to support Brighter Bites. Derrick Smalls is a second generation City Harvest employee and drives the City Harvest truck to deliver all our produce and is truly incredible to work with week after week. Kim Conchada is City Harvest’s volunteer services warehouse specialist. She oversees all our warehouse needs, including assessing produce quality to ensure we have the right tip-sheets and nutrition materials in our bags each week. Every week she leads a team of four to five volunteers in building custom pallets for Brighter Bites schools at City Harvest’s food rescue facility. Usually this means breaking down and re-building 10,000+ lbs. of fruits and veggies!

Derrick Smalls, City Harvest driver, pictured with Program Associate Judy Hsu

 

Picture L to R: Luis Montoya, Kim Conchada, Patricia Burt, Ivette Fematt, Sharon Wanamaker

Another amazing City Harvest staff member, Comen Ammonds, is a distribution center associate at City Harvest’s Food Rescue Facility, where he is responsible for many tasks, including receiving and storing produce donations, loading and off-loading City Harvest and agency trucks, and repacking of bulk produce. Comen has been one of Brighter Bites’ biggest supporters at City Harvest from the beginning of our partnership and helped train our staff on all things warehouse. He continues to support our weekly pallet builds, ensuring all Brighter Bites families are able to get quality items in their bags each week.

City Harvest Distribution Center Associate Comen Ammonds

With real estate so hard to come by in NYC, our staff opted to office out of a shared WeWork space in the historic Brewster Building, which is also home to JetBlue’s headquarters. JetBlue has volunteered over 10 times and sent close to 100 employees to help bag produce at our schools since July 2018.

JetBlue employees volunteering at a Brighter Bites bagging

We are so excited to continue creating communities of health through fresh produce in NYC. To learn more about how you can volunteer at a Brighter Bites program near you, click here.

 

Special Contributor: Melanie Button, Program Director, Brighter Bites NYC

New York Produce Show and Conference Donates Produce to Brighter Bites

Posted on December 28, 2018 by -

This year’s four-day New York Produce Show and Conference took place December 10 – 13, just in time for our last few weeks of Brighter Bites programming in NYC for the Fall 2018 season. After the produce show, display items were donated to one of our Queens locations. Many of our families got to try produce items like cauliflower, red bell peppers, garlic, cucumbers, pomegranates, and persimmons for the first time! We’re grateful for the generosity of the New York Produce Show and Conference and our NYC partners City Harvest and D’Arrigo Bros. Co. Read all about the produce show’s donation to Brighter Bites here.

Garlic, cauliflower, and red bell peppers, arranged to make an American flag, were all donated to Brighter Bites after the 2018 New York Produce Show and Conference

Press Release: City Harvest and D’Arrigo Bros. of New York Team Up

Posted on July 16, 2018 by -

Media Contact:
Stefanie Cousins
Stefanie.Cousins@brighterbites.org
919-360-4156

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NYC’s Largest Food Rescue Organization and Top Produce Company Team up with Nutrition Education Nonprofit to Address Childhood Obesity and Encourage Healthy Eating Habits in New York City This Summer

City Harvest and D’Arrigo Bros. of New York bring fresh fruits and vegetables to families in Queens through a new partnership with national nonprofit Brighter Bites 

New York, NY (July 16, 2018) – Food rescue nonprofit City Harvest and produce company D’Arrigo Bros. of New York today launched a summer-long program in New York City with Brighter Bites, a nonprofit organization that tackles childhood obesity by providing low-income families with free fresh produce and nutrition education. This effort builds on the three organizations’ similar work during the school year to provide free produce at schools with students living in underserved communities, and will increase access to produce for more than 400 families through programs at three summer camps in Queens.

“We believe that increasing access to healthy, affordable food is the key to helping all New Yorkers become food secure,” said Kate MacKenzie, City Harvest’s Senior Director of Programs. “Studies have shown children need to be offered a new food 10-15 times before they’ll develop a taste for it. For many working families in New York City that are struggling to make ends meet, however, experimenting with new foods like fresh produce isn’t always an option. City Harvest is excited to be partnering with Brighter Bites and D’Arrigo to decrease the risk that comes with trying new foods, and help families build healthy habits over the summer.”

According to City Harvest, more than 1.2 million New Yorkers face hunger every year, including nearly one in five New York City children. In Queens alone, over a quarter million residents are food insecure. Through City Harvest and Brighter Bites’ produce distribution and nutrition education programming, parents have the ability to learn which healthy foods their children have a taste for, and the recipe cards and tip sheets that come with the produce each week help them prepare meals in fun and nutritious ways.

Brighter Bites and City Harvest are kicking off programs at three summer camps in Queens that will provide more than 50,000 pounds of produce, along with kid-friendly bilingual recipes and tip sheets in English and Spanish on topics ranging from “Eating the Rainbow” to how bringing kids into the kitchen to help with meal prep makes them more invested in trying new foods.

Each week participating families will receive two bags containing approximately 50 servings of eight to 12 different fresh produce items along with the nutritional educational materials. D’Arrigo is generously donating a third of the fresh fruits and vegetables each week, with two-thirds coming from City Harvest.

“Every family wants to provide the best for their children to help them grow healthy and strong,” said Gabriela D’Arrigo, Vice President of Marketing for D’Arrigo. “As a family-owned business here in New York, we’re proud to partner with Brighter Bites and City Harvest to help our neighbors across the city have greater access to fresh produce.”

Since launching in 2012, Brighter Bites has distributed more than 17 million pounds of produce and hundreds of thousands of nutrition education materials to 200,000 individuals from more than 40,000 families through schools and summer camps in New York City, Houston, Dallas, Austin, Southwest Florida, and Washington, D.C. Brighter Bites uses a simple formula for introducing healthy lifestyles to families: produce distribution, nutrition education, and a fun food experience that includes sampling a recipe of the week to see just how great produce can taste. In New York City, parents and community volunteers will pack bags of fresh fruits and veggies for families and teachers to take home for six weeks this summer.

“We know that far too many parents struggle to access and provide their children with fresh produce, particularly during the summer months when kids are out of school,” said Brighter Bites Executive Director Samuel Newman. “Since Brighter Bites established our New York City program in 2017 with City Harvest and D’Arrigo, we’ve been blown away by the kids’ response to trying different kinds of fresh fruits and veggies–often for the first time–and we’re so pleased to be continuing this important work throughout the summer months with these same partners.”

Brighter Bites measures the outcomes of its program to determine impact. Research shows the Brighter Bites model provides consistent opportunities for children and their families to practice healthier behaviors in school and at home:

  • 98% of Brighter Bites parents report their children eating more fruits and vegetables while participating in the Brighter Bites program.
  • Of those, 74% said they maintained that increased level of consumption after Brighter Bites ended.

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 40,000 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 BrighterBites.org.

About City Harvest
City Harvest is New York City’s largest food rescue organization, helping to feed the more than 1.2 million New Yorkers who are struggling to put meals on their tables. We will rescue 61 million pounds of food this year and deliver it, free of charge, to hundreds of food pantries, soup kitchens, and other community partners across the five boroughs. Our programs help food-insecure New Yorkers access nutritious food that fits their needs and desires; increase partners’ capacity; and strengthen the local food system, building a path to a food-secure future for all New Yorkers. To learn more, visit CityHarvest.org.

About D’Arrigo Bros. of New York
Family-owned and operated, D’Arrigo Bros. of New York, Inc. has served the New York Metropolitan area for over 50 years, offering a full line of the highest quality fruit and vegetable items available every day of the week. The company is located in a 75,000-square foot. facility in the Hunts Point Terminal Market in the Bronx. D’Arrigo takes pride in offering its customers the highest quality produce that can be found anywhere. To learn more, visit D’ArrigoNY.com

Happy Spring!

Posted on March 23, 2018 by -

According to the calendar, spring has officially sprung. We are so excited for the sunshine, blue skies, and picnics that lie ahead!