PHOENIX – Brighter Bites, a national nonprofit that delivers fresh fruits and vegetables directly into families’ hands, announces the launch of its 11th location in Phoenix, Arizona. Brighter Bites will serve six schools within Cartwright School District and Alhambra Unified School District, which will directly impact close to 900 families and provide approximately 288,000 pounds of fresh produce to its participants.
“We sincerely appreciate Brighter Bites for their efforts in delivering age-appropriate nutrition lessons to our students which is helping them grasp the significance of maintaining healthy eating habits,” said Diane Corley, Principal at Tomahawk Elementary School. “We are grateful for this partnership that supports healthier choices for our youth.”
Key partners who have made the Phoenix location possible include founding partners, MJI Family Investments LLC, JV Smith, Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, and Burton Family Foundation as well as the locally based St. Mary’s Food Bank.
“St. Mary’s is excited to partner with Brighter Bites towards achieving the common goal of increasing access of nutritional food for school-age children to create healthy habits that turn into healthy lifestyles,” said Laura Brill, Director, Culinary and Nutrition Programs, at St. Mary’s Food Bank in Phoenix.
The first distribution in Phoenix began October 16 and will continue each week through the end of May. Brighter Bites plans to further expand its reach into more schools within the Cartwright and Alhambra school districts in the 2024-2025 school year.
To learn more about Brighter Bites, or how to volunteer or partner in Phoenix, visit brighterbites.org/location/phoenix, or follow the organization on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, or YouTube.
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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 60 million pounds of produce and millions of nutrition education materials to more than one million individuals (including teachers) in Austin, Bakersfield, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Phoenix, New York City, Salinas, San Antonio, Southwest Florida, and the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area. To learn more about Brighter Bites visit www.brighterbites.org.