HOUSTON – Brighter Bites, a nonprofit with the mission of creating communities of health through fresh food, hosted its second annual gala to celebrate organizational impact and the partnerships that make its work possible.
The gala took place on March 27th in Houston, Texas at The Revaire, and featured guest speakers Daniel Goetz, founder of GoodPop, Becca Dittrich, VP of impact at Chobani, and Chris Shepherd, chef and founding director of the Southern Smoke Foundation. The 400 attendees heard from each speaker on how their organizations work to support local food systems, to encourage community wellness, and to responsibly use fresh, wholesome ingredients.
As part of the celebration, the nonprofit raised over $450,000 through table sponsorships as well as from the silent auction held during the event. These proceeds will go toward continuing to expand Brighter Bites’ reach to helping under-resourced communities throughout the U.S.
“We are so very thankful to all of the sponsors, donors, volunteers, partners, and employees who make our program possible,” said Lisa Helfman, founder and board chair of Brighter Bites. “With the generosity we received not only at the gala but throughout the year, we will continue to push and expand the work we do to help create communities of health and wellness across the nation.”
Through its Produce Rx Program in partnership with University of Texas Physicians, Brighter Bites plans to reach even more families with the message that food is medicine. In addition to produce box programming that takes place at schools, Produce Rx also accesses families at the physician level with reloadable vouchers to purchase fresh produce at local grocery stores.
“From that first year when we were sifting through produce bins for ingredients to twelve years and twelve cities later with over 65 million pounds of product donated – we could not have made it this far without all the support,” said Dr. Shreela Sharma, co-founder of Brighter Bites.
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 60 million pounds of produce and millions of nutrition education materials to more than one million individuals (including teachers) in Austin, Bakersfield, Dallas, Houston, Las Cruces, 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.
