Brighter Bites Expands Community Impact With Multi-Year Support and 150,000+ Kiwifruit Donated by Zespri

HOUSTON – Brighter Bites, a national nonprofit that delivers fresh fruits and vegetables directly into families’ hands, is celebrating three years of partnership with Zespri™ Kiwifruit designed to strengthen fresh produce access and education across Brighter Bites’ cities nationwide.

Since the partnership began in 2022, Zespri has made a significant multi-year investment — through direct funding as well as the donation of more than 150,000 pieces of kiwifruit — to support Brighter Bites’ mission of providing fresh produce and nutrition education to families facing food insecurity.

“Zespri’s ongoing partnership and support of Brighter Bites demonstrates more than corporate generosity; it’s a strategic investment in the future of the produce industry,” said Brighter Bites CEO, Rich Dachman. “By helping children and families discover and enjoy fruits like kiwifruit early in life, Zespri is helping to build the next generation of produce consumers while promoting long-term health and loyalty to fresh foods.”

This partnership extends beyond produce and monetary support by engaging families through hands-on educational content and creative recipe development. In addition to past initiatives like kiwi art contests and nutrition education fact sheets, Zespri and Brighter Bites continue to inspire families with easy, wholesome recipes including Easy Blender Kiwi Pancakes, Zespri Sungold Kiwi “Shaved Ice”, Zespri Sungold Kiwi Salsa, Zesty Zespri Kiwi Sorbet.

“We are thrilled to be a part of a program that not only provides produce but also engages with its community as Brighter Bites does,” said Jeanne Wilson of Zespri. “This collaboration has been able to drive both social impact and category growth to ultimately reach the goal of increased consumption of fresh produce for all — and we’re proud to contribute with our nutritious and delicious kiwifruit that supports healthy lifestyles.”

As Brighter Bites continues to expand its reach, the organization aims to further collaborate with produce industry partners committed to improving health outcomes and increasing produce consumption nationwide. Since 2012, Brighter Bites has grown to serve families and students in food deserts across nine major metropolitan areas and over 75 million pounds of fresh produce. Zespri’s partnership has enabled the organization to continue providing for under-resourced communities and expand its programming throughout the country.

To learn more about Brighter Bites, visit brighterbites.org, or follow the organization on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter or YouTube. 

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 over 75 million pounds of produce and millions of nutrition education materials to more than one million individuals (including teachers) in Austin, Bakersfield, Dallas, Greater Philadelphia, Houston, Las Cruces, Phoenix, New York City, Salinas, San Antonio, San Diego, Southwest Florida, and the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area. To learn more about Brighter Bites visit www.brighterbites.org.

ABOUT ZESPRI GROUP, LTD.

Zespri is 100 percent owned by current and former kiwifruit growers and has a global team of 900+ based in Mount Maunganui and throughout Asia, Europe and the Americas. Our purpose is to help people, communities and the environment thrive through the goodness of kiwifruit, and we work with 2,800 growers in New Zealand and 1,500 growers offshore to provide consumers with fresh, healthy and great-tasting Zespri Green, Zespri RubyRed and SunGold Kiwifruit. In 2024/25, we supplied 220.9 million trays (more than 795,000 tonnes) of kiwifruit to consumers in more than 50 markets, and recorded global operating revenue of NZ$5.14 billion. Please visit zespri.com/en.US.