Keyword/Tag: staff

Houston Staff Spotlight

Posted on June 1, 2019 by -

The Brighter Bites staff in Houston worked together this past spring to serve 8,900 families at 45 sites across the city. The Houston team — the largest in the organization – has a diverse educational background, but they all share a passion for health, food, and service. Read a bit below about the incredible staff that comes together each day to create communities of health in Houston.

Program Director

The Houston team is led by Program Director Emily Kelley, who joined Brighter Bites in 2013 as an Americorps VISTA volunteer before becoming a permanent member and leader of the team. She’s seen Brighter Bites grow from its infancy in Houston into the national program that it is today. The Houston team is so lucky to have her leadership!

Emily is supported by two program managers who have collectively served nine years with Brighter Bites and nine program coordinators, who’ve served a combined 22 years! Learn some fun facts about each member of the team below:

Program Managers

Lani Alcazar is passionate about community work and has a special affinity for nutrition and child health. Lani earned her master’s degree in public health at The University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston before joining the Brighter Bites team.

Molly Oyetunji grew up in Houston with a love for food and cooking that later translated into a passion for chemistry and nutrition. Molly loves sharing nutrition education information and changing children’s lives one Brighter Bites bag at a time. Molly recently had a daughter, Olivia, and hopes to pass on to her a love of healthy food!

Program Coordinators

Michael Carpenter began working with Brighter Bites as a Mission Year intern during the 2015-2016 academic year. Hailing from the Pacific Northwest with its abundance of local fresh fruit, Michael enjoys working to ensure kids in Houston have access to fresh fruit just like he did growing up in Washington.

Jacqueline Castro has a background in health education and uses her passion for nutrition education everyday at Brighter Bites to expose young children to fresh produce and to help build lifelong healthy habits.

Katie Degen loves educating individuals about nutrition and is a rockstar at making nutrition fun for Brighter Bites families.

Jackie Delagarza was born and raised in Houston and became passionate about nutrition education during college. Jackie enjoys playing an active role in educating Houston communities about all aspects of health and nutrition through Brighter Bites.

Jonathan Gerescher‘s passion for the nonprofit sector and serving his community began with Houston’s Discovery Green Conservatory and has since flourished into full-time dedication to help kids build lifelong healthy habits through Brighter Bites.

Thelma Green‘s background in community health and youth outreach in underserved communities has led her to pursue her passion for helping Houston’s young children and their families blossom one bright bite at a time. P.S. Thelma is the Houston team’s resident Zumba leader!

Tanya Reyes knew from a young age that she wanted to make a difference by helping others create a healthy relationship with food. She developed an after school nutrition education outreach program and taught child-focused cooking classes even before joining Brighter Bites!

Samantha Rodriguez came to Brighter Bites with a communications background in the natural foods industry and a passion for promoting healthy eating habits. She loves being a part of Brighter Bites and helping to provide families with produce and nutrition education to support healthy lifestyles!

Jessica Schauman explored the social effects of economic segregation and the influence of nutrition education on children’s health during her undergraduate coursework. She loves doing her part to make an impact on the community with the rest of the Houston team.

The Houston team also includes a group of hardworking program associates who join Brighter Bites part-time during the busiest times of the year. They make it possible for Brighter Bites to serve so many different Houston communities.

The Houston team offices in close proximity to some of the members of the Brighter Bites national team, which supports the growth of Brighter Bites across the country. Keep your eyes peeled for an overview of all the amazing staff who make up the Brighter Bites national team.

Thanks to all the Houston staff members for all that they do to create communities of health through fresh food!

Volunteer Superstars in Austin, TX

Posted on May 3, 2019 by -

At an Austin, TX, Brighter Bites produce bagging, there is rarely a shortage of volunteers, laughter, and dancing. One special volunteer, Jackie from Metz Elementary, shows up week after week, bringing bounds of joy and her friends! Jackie never fails to make everyone laugh by balancing produce on her head – even while dancing to cumbia!

Volunteer Superstar Jackie Perez

Metz bagging would not be the same without Jackie, and we thank her for all she has done for the community!

Volunteer Jackie Perez (R) always ensures there are plenty of smiles at Brighter Bites baggings

Our program is also indebted to the incredible school administrators and staff, especially principals, assistant principals, and parent support specialists, who are dedicated to serving the kids and parents that make up their school communities by ensuring that Brighter Bites is implemented smoothly into all aspects of the school.

A special parent support specialist, Ms. Resendiz from Pecan Springs Elementary, is quite the Brighter Bites superstar! From week one she thought up innovative ways to support the program throughout the school, including creating specific signage to help organize family pick up lines and also had the idea to film a bagging time lapse.

Ms. Resendiz with one of her many contributions to Brighter Bites…her distribution signage!

Ms. Resendiz always shows up with a smile on her face to makes all the volunteers and Brighter Bites staff feel welcome.

Volunteers at Pecan Springs Elementary

Principal Mull and Assistant Principal Peralez-Hernandez at Wooldridge Elementary are another set of staff superstars! They each set a wonderful example of the power of supportive administration by getting fellow faculty involved and always announcing the daily Brighter Bites message. Both Principal Mull and Assistant Principal Peralez-Hernandez make a point to stop by each week at bagging or distribution and have even helped get their students involved!

A Woolridge student lends a helping hand

Each week they select five to ten third through fifth grade students to come help us with the bagging process. We are so in love with all that these ladies have done for our program!

Volunteers at Woolridge celebrate another successful bagging

We also want to give a shout out to Morgan Berry, a Boys and Girls Club coordinator at Cook Elementary. Morgan goes above and beyond each week to ensure all her students try the Brighter Bites snack and sets up a microphone so we can discuss the weekly nutrition education topic with the students. Morgan has been a tremendous help in making sure all her students are properly signed up to participate and continuously pick up their bags, even if they join the school half way through the season.

Smiling volunteers at Cook Elementary

Join us in celebrating these wonderful superstars who help the Brighter Bites Austin program shine. Find out how you can volunteer at a Brighter Bites program near you.

Meet our D.C. Staff!

Posted on February 25, 2019 by -

Brighter Bites has an amazing team leading our program in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area!

Program Director Tara McNerney has lived in D.C. for nearly eight years and was thrilled to join Brighter Bites in November 2017. Her background in food, sustainability, and education prepared her to implement the Brighter Bites three-pillared program. Read Tara’s full bio here.

Program Coordinator Carolina Moppett brings to her role excellent skills as an educator and communicator. She is fully bilingual (her family is from Argentina and Uruguay), which is helpful to our team because many of our families in Prince George’s County speak only Spanish. Read Carolina’s full bio here.

Tara and Carolina are joined by part-time program associates Rajni Sood Laurent and Tamirra Glover. Rajni has a background in public health, education, and international affairs and has a deep passion for improving the health of Prince George’s County, where she resides with her family and sends her children to school.

Tamirra is an associate and part-time intern for Brighter Bites. She is studying for her master’s of science in health education and promotion at Marymount University in Arlington, VA,  and is contributing to several projects benefiting our program while gaining on-the-ground experience with Brighter Bites.

Every Tuesday the whole team congregates at the Capital Area Food Bank’s (CAFB) warehouse and educational kitchen, where the team’s office is located. Tara and Rajni lead a group of CAFB volunteers in moving up to 10,000 pounds of produce to build the pallets for our schools that week — a true muscle-building task! Tamirra and Carolina are meanwhile in the CAFB kitchen preparing a recipe for families to taste test at our distributions.

David Washington, Ronald McLendon, Henry Davis, and Lorenzo Wright are four CAFB employees who work in the warehouse and contribute their time, care, and expertise in forklift operation to the Brighter Bites program. We could not do it without them!

Our family volunteers – too numerous to name individually – also make the program a success by bagging the produce once it arrives at the schools. Not only do they functionally make the program run, but they also make our Brighter Bites team smile with their enthusiasm!

 

Brighter Bites is so fortunate to have our team and partners working hand-in-hand to build communities of health in the nation’s capital and surrounding area. Visit our volunteer page to find out how you can pitch in!

 

By Tara McNerney, Program Director, Brighter Bites Washington, D.C.

New York Tastymonials!

Posted on November 7, 2018 by -

Volunteers, families, and faculty in New York City have provided some amazing feedback about how Brighter Bites is impacting their communities. We are so thrilled to receive their input on how access to fresh fruits and vegetables is changing their lives. Check it out below:

“We had an incredible beginning, with many volunteers, lessons, and staff members cooking in the classrooms. Even cooking in the classrooms the next day! Once again thank you on behalf of the families, staff and students. Bright Bites is a uniting force in ensuring that our community becomes well versed on the topic of healthy eating.” – Principal Olga Guzman, PS 228Q

“I just wanted to thank you for bringing this program to our school! The kids get excited about the produce in the classroom with the teacher, and come home excited to eat fruits and vegetables! They get mad at me if I unpack the bags without them so now I leave them on the table until they’re home from school so they can unpack themselves.” – Parent at PS 212Q

“Bok choy again! I love this stuff now. I started buying it after you gave it to us the first week. This bok choy looks even better than what’s in the store!I had never had it before in my life. I was surprised at how good it tasted! And my family likes it – that’s the amazing thing”. – Volunteer at IS 10Q (August 2017)

We’re lucky to work hand in hand with so many wonderful people — and such sweet students (see one of our favorite snaps below)!

Staff Spotlight: Tara McNerney

Posted on May 3, 2018 by -

Meet Tara!

Tara McNerney is the Program Director for Brighter Bites Washington, D.C. Tara joined Brighter Bites in November 2017, inspired by the mission of Brighter Bites, its evidence-based and proven model, and the passion of all the Brighter Bites staff members she spoke to prior to joining the team!

Tara’s favorite part of the job is getting to work with so many different actors in the Brighter Bites system, including the Capital Area Food Bank, school administrators, families, and students. She also loves collaborating with other cities’ Brighter Bites program directors to learn from their experiences in other parts of the county.

Tara grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she enjoyed competing in volleyball and track and field, and reading as many books as she could. After college, Tara moved to Sweden to complete her master’s degree in strategic leadership toward sustainability. She loved observing the Swedish culture and enjoying both Sweden’s beautiful countryside and sustainable cities.

Having lived in DC for a few years, Tara loves being surrounded by so many passionate and mission-driven people. She notes that DC is an ideal place to work if you want to change the world!

When she’s not on the job, you’ll most likely find Tara going for a run, playing volleyball, or working in her garden. If you’re in the area, she recommends checking out The Red Hen to try their fresh pasta or Busboys and Poets, a bookstore and cafe that supports and reflects the wonderful diversity of the DC community!

We are so excited to have Tara on our team and hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know her as much as we have!

Paying Tribute to Our Program Staff and Partners

Posted on December 22, 2016 by -

Last month Brighter Bites hit a remarkable milestone:

In just 4 years, we have provided more than 10,000,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables to over 20,000 families in Texas!!

We could not be prouder of our Brighter Bites staff or more grateful for our partners at the Houston Food Bank, North Texas Food Bank, Central Texas Food Bank, and Sysco. We could not have reached this milestone without the remarkable efforts that take place behind the scenes. Thank you!!

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Pictured above (clockwise): Brighter Bites Founders Lisa Helfman & Shreela Sharma; Brighter Bites Houston Program Staff; Brighter Bites Austin Program Staff; Brighter Bites Dallas Program Staff.