Brighter Bites, a national nonprofit that delivers fresh fruits and vegetables directly into families’ hands, is proud to announce the release of its 2024 Annual Impact Report. The report highlights the nonprofit’s achievements, milestones, and the transformative work it has done over the past year in changing health outcomes of communities across the country. Click to read full article.
In this edition of The Data Harvest, we highlight one of the key pillars of our program: our incredible volunteer force.
At Brighter Bites, our volunteers come from both the families we serve and the wider community surrounding our schools. Brighter Bites often encourages parents (and little siblings!) to get involved at their students’ schools for the first time, with 71% of teachers in our program agreeing that Brighter Bites increased parent engagement at their school. We regularly surpass the goal of ten parent volunteers for every 150 bags packed, and for the 2018-2019 school year, we had over 3,350 unique parent volunteers for a total of over 36,000 volunteer hours at our 92 sites across the country!
Brighter Bites also invites local companies and organizations to support building communities of health through fresh produce. Last school year, over 250 community members volunteered for a total of over 500 hours at Brighter Bites sites nationwide.
Unified in our bright red t-shirts, Brighter Bites staff, parents, and community volunteers work together in assembly lines to divide produce into hundreds of bags. We couldn’t be more humbled by the dedication and joy they bring each week.
To find a Brighter Bites program and volunteer-opportunity near you, check out our volunteer page.
Meet the team creating communities of health through fresh food in Houston.
People all over Dallas are dedicating time, resources, and energy to making the city and the world a better place. Dallas Doing Good shares stories about these people to inspire others to do the same. Check out the story the weblog published this week about Brighter Bites.
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.
March 12 was a banner day for Brighter Bites in Austin, TX! We kicked off the morning bagging produce at a Brighter Bites elementary school alongside First Lady of Texas Cecilia Abbott and a large group of family members from the current Texas Legislature. Next, we stopped by the Texas Capitol to receive special recognition on the House floor. Finally, we wrapped up the day speaking at SXSW. Our hearts are full! Read more about each event below!
We showed you what it takes to operate Brighter Bites in NYC, but what about in our nation’s capital? Join us for a behind-the-scenes look at our program in the Washington, D.C. area!
As Thanksgiving brings us near the end of another Brighter Bites season, we find ourselves reflecting on how thankful we are for our many wonderful volunteers and partners who help us in our effort to create communities of health through fresh food everywhere we go. Learn about our partners here.
Brighter Bites sure knows what people mean when they say “it takes a village.” The success of our program is built on a foundation of families, faculty, and community members coming together to support the health of their communities.
As we approach Thanksgiving and near the end of our fall 2018 season, we’d like to take a moment to call out the incredible volunteer support our program has experienced so far in each of our cities and thank everyone for their inspiring dedication to Brighter Bites. (All statistics below are for the fall 2019 season thus far!)
Houston
– Total number of sites: 45
– Total unique number of volunteers: 776
– Estimated total number of volunteer hours: 4,212
– Site of greatest volunteer engagement: Farias Early Childhood Center, averaging 44 volunteers per week
– Total unique number of external volunteers: 56
Volunteers at McMasters Elementary School in Pasadena (Houston), TX
Dallas
– Total number of sites: 20
– Total unique number of volunteers: 644
– Estimated total number of volunteer hours: 3,918
– Site of greatest volunteer engagement: Thelma Richardson Elementary, averaging 37 parent volunteers each week. Fun fact: These volunteers host a potluck every single week and Thelma Richardson is only in their first year with Brighter Bites! How inspiring is that?!
– Total unique number of external volunteers: 35 – Outstanding Fall 2018 external volunteer group: Sendero Consulting
Volunteers at Truett Elementary School in Dallas, TX
Austin
– Total number of sites: 10
– Total unique number of volunteers: 416
– Estimated total number of volunteer hours: 3,074
– Site of greatest volunteer engagement: Wooten Elementary, averaging 33 volunteers per week
– Total unique number of external volunteers: 24
Volunteers at Pickle Elementary School in Austin, TX
NYC
– Total number of sites: 3
– Total unique number of volunteers: 196
– Estimated total number of volunteer hours: 1,958
– Site of greatest volunteer engagement: P.S. 212, averaging 71 volunteers per week
– Total unique number of external volunteers: 73 – Outstanding fall 2018 external volunteer group: Jetblue
Volunteers at P.S. 212 in Jackson Heights, NY (Queens/NYC)
Washington, D.C.
– Total number of sites: 5
– Total unique number of volunteers: 172
– Estimated total number of volunteer hours: 960
– Site of greatest volunteer engagement: So far this season, Beacon Heights Elementary has greatest number of volunteers, with Cool Spring Elementary currently close behind and on track to have the biggest volunteer turnout by the end of their season! – Total unique number of external volunteers: 5
Volunteers at Adelphi Elementary School in Adelphi, MD (Washington, D.C. metro area)
Southwest Florida
– Total number of sites: 5
– Total unique number of volunteers: 110
– Estimated total number of volunteer hours: 648
– Site of greatest volunteer engagement: Redlands Christian Migrant Association, averaging 18 volunteers per week
– Outstanding Fall 2018 external volunteer group: Collier County Public Schools
Volunteer at Lake Trafford Elementary School in Immokalee, FL
If you add those numbers up, Brighter Bites has been supported this fall by approximately 2,500 unique volunteers across the country for a total of 14,770 volunteer hours! We are blown away by the dedication of our volunteers and thrilled to witness the communities of health they build every single day.
Want to volunteer at a Brighter Bites school near you? Click here to learn more.
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)!
