Keyword/Tag: Mesquite ISD

Brighter Bites in Dallas, TX

Posted on July 3, 2019 by -

In the summer of 2015, Brighter Bites began serving families in Dallas, TX — the program’s first expansion outside of its home in Houston. This past school year, the Dallas team served families at 20 programming sites across the city in Dallas ISD, Garland ISD, and Mesquite ISD.

Map of Brighter Bites sites in Dallas, TX, during the 2018-2019 school year

The Brighter Bites Dallas program would not be possible without the incredible support of partners like North Texas Food Bank, Brother’s Produce, Taylor Farms, Hardie’s Fresh Foods,  Village Farms, and Mann Packing. Each of these partners supports Brighter Bites by providing us with produce donations, warehouse resources, and/or logistics support, all of which are crucial to making our program a success. By collaborating with Brighter Bites, these companies demonstrate both their commitment to helping communities in the Dallas area that don’t have reliable access to fresh food and their confidence in our program to help families change the way they are eating. We could not be more grateful for their partnership.

The tight-knit Dallas programming team will soon be led by incoming Program Director Julie MacPherson, who joins Brighter Bites after spending several years in Washington, D.C., Portland, and Dallas working in a variety of areas in the nonprofit space. The Dallas program director role was previously held by Alicia Farhat, who established the Dallas program nearly five years ago and helped it grow to a footprint of 20 schools in the Dallas area, serving thousands of Dallas families each year. Brighter Bites misses Alicia, and we wish her the very best! The rest of the team includes Program Manager Magaly Solis and Program Coordinators Maryann Aguinaga, Jenna Babbitt, Josh Meyer, and Dallas Riley. The team is supported by four incredible Program Associates, Suzan Mackay, Jocelyn Hunt, Yesenia Mejia, and Yolanda Johnson, as well as a high school fieldwork intern, Su Min Yoon, and a graduate school dietetic intern, Allie Kleppe.

The Dallas team has a dedicated workspace at GoodWork, a Dallas coworking office, where they enjoy working in a naturally-lit environment conducive to team building, especially through GoodWork’s periodic yoga and fitness classes! The programming team is also joined at the GoodWork office by three members of the Brighter Bites national team including Director of Strategic Parntnerships Meredith Spence, Sourcing Manager Jennifer Boone, and Nutrition Education Program Manager Jacqueline Noyola.

This summer, the Brighter Bites Dallas programming team is serving over 500 families at eight different summer sites. Join the team by signing up to volunteer at a Dallas site or in a Brighter Bites city near you!

Thanks to the Dallas team for all they do to create communities of health in Dallas!

Seabourn Elementary Promotes Healthy Eating

Posted on April 25, 2019 by -

The Mesquite News ran an article about Seabourn Elementary’s Brighter Bites program in the Dallas, TX area this week. Read the article here or below.

 

Seabourn Elementary has partnered with Brighter Bites, a Houston-based nonprofit that delivers fresh fruits and vegetables directly to families, to encourage students and their families to eat more produce and make healthier choices.

For eight weeks in the fall and eight weeks in the spring, Brighter Bites provides 5,000 pounds of fresh produce to Seabourn every week.

Seabourn Principal Renea Kern said the school has “Wellness Wednesdays” in which food trucks arrive at about 8:30 a.m. bringing fresh fruits and vegetables. From there the volunteer parents organize individual bags, and each family that has signed up to be part the program takes home about 25 pounds of fresh produce every week. Teachers also get a bag of produce delivered to their classrooms to use in a weekly educational activity to teach students about the importance of eating fruits and vegetables.

“After hearing about this program from another district I did some further research and thought it would be a great opportunity for our families,” Kern said. “We see so many of our students with chips, candy and soda that we wanted to try and make a positive influence towards healthier choices.”

Kern said after filling out an online application a Brighter Bites representative reached out to discuss how to bring this program to Seabourn.

“We are all about building communities of health through fresh food. We do that through fresh produce and nutrition education,” said Jenna Babbitt of Brighter Bites.

All Seabourn families are eligible to sign up for this program. Not only does each family receive fresh produce weekly, they also get recipes they can try at home with the produce provided that week.

“Brighter Bites provides samples of the recipe included with the produce when the parents pick up their bags. Additionally, our students get to experience the new produce each week with their teachers during the required produce activity,” Kern said. “Our students and families are learning how to make healthier food choices and try new things without the cost this would otherwise bring. Through the Brighter Bites program and the CATCH program that is already available in our district, we are supporting a healthier lifestyle.

“Our students and families are opting to choose healthier foods, and physical activity is encouraged and celebrated. We are on our way to making lifelong changes with the support of Brighter Bites,” she added.