Keyword/Tag: Melanie Button

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.

 

Staff Spotlight: Melanie Button

Posted on January 29, 2019 by -

Meet Melanie!

In July of 2017, Melanie Button joined Brighter Bites as program director for Brighter Bites in NYC to help us launch our first program outside of Texas. We love having Melanie on our staff and wanted you to have the chance to get to know her better! We asked Melanie all about her experience working with Brighter Bites and her favorite things to do off the job. Check out Melanie’s responses below!

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What inspired you to join Brighter Bites?

I previously worked for our partner, City Harvest, delivering nutrition education programs including CATCH [Coordinated Approach to Child Health]. When Brighter Bites approached City Harvest about expanding to NYC, I was part of the team that explored whether it would be a viable partnership. Everyone on both sides was excited for the potential partnership, but it took a few months to figure out the logistics of running the program in NYC. During that time, I fell in love with Brighter Bites’ mission of creating communities of health through fresh food and its data driven approach to doing so. I was thrilled to be hired as program director and have the opportunity to oversee the launch of the first city outside of Texas.

What is your favorite part of your job?

My background is in education. I’m a certified New York State teacher and have spent most of my career working in schools in one way or another. I love empowering teachers at our Brighter Bites schools to be a vehicle for change for their students. Hearing from the teachers about the lessons they are doing in the classrooms with the fruits and veggies or how much they enjoy delivering our CATCH program really makes my day. And, of course, the impact on our families is what fills me up every day. My favorite is when a produce item really catches on with our families. This summer we received bok choy donations for a few weeks in a row. I had so many families tell me that it was brand new to them when we first distributed it but that their children had grown to love it to the point that they were now purchasing it on their own.

Melanie Button and City Harvest driver Ade McCoy

What is your favorite produce item?

I love avocados! I would eat avocado toast for every meal. What can I say, I’m a Brooklynite! Through our partnership with Avocados From Mexico we were able to provide avocados to all our Brighter Bites families last year which was super exciting for our families and staff.

Do you any favorite recipes to share (Brighter Bites or otherwise!)?

It took me 25+ years to learn to like cauliflower, but now I love it! Our Sneaky Mashed Potatoes are a great way to introduce this flavor to your kids.

Where did you grow up?

My father was career Army, so our family moved every 2-3 years. I was born in Germany and lived there as a young child as well as through middle school. My parents instilled a love of travel in my sister and me, and I feel so lucky to have seen so much of the world before I was even a teenager. I still have a serious travel bug!

What activities did you do as a child/teenager (sports, clubs, instruments, etc.)?

I was a huge bookworm. When we lived abroad, it was harder to get English books for kids. We visited London semi-regularly, and I would spend hours in bookstores trying to pick out which ones to bring back with us. I would have filled a whole suitcase if I could!

What would we most likely find you doing outside of work?

I’m an exercise junkie. If I go two or three days without working out I feel stressed and unsettled. I used to be a distance runner and have completed 5 marathons and 12+ half marathons, but lately I am finding a solid 30 minutes a day is just right.

What is your favorite thing about living in New York?

Living in New York usually means agreeing to live in a smaller space. I actually value this a lot. It forces you to get out and explore the city. Instead of backyards, we have so many beautiful parks including my favorite, Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn.

Do you have any local attraction or restaurant recommendations?

Right now, all our program locations are in the borough of Queens which is the most ethnically diverse urban area in the world! My staff and I are always eager to explore new flavors and cuisines on our lunch breaks. A staff favorite is Arepas Grill in Astoria which serves Venezuelan specialties. This year, my goal is to explore the many Tibetan and Nepalese restaurants in Jackson Heights and find the best momos (traditional dumplings), which is a hotly contested title.

Any family or friends you want to introduce us to?

My husband Tommy is the true chef in our family! He grew up in Texas, and his family is originally from Louisiana, so he brings southern flavors into our home. He made jambalaya for me on our second date and it was pretty much a done deal. We are both overly obsessed with our dog Homer who we rescued from a shelter 3 years ago. He really rules our roost, but we would not have it any other way.

Where is/has been your favorite place to visit/travel to?

My husband and I love road trips! When you are driving through new places, it feels like the travel is just as exciting as the destination. Some of our favorite itineraries have been Utah and the western national parks, the Dalmatian coast exploring Croatia, Bosnia, and Montenegro, and our most recent trip through Germany, Austria, and Slovenia. I hated learning to drive manual as a teenager but my parents were right – it is a skill I now highly value!

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Thanks for everything you do Melanie!

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