Brighter Bites Organizes Sorting and Packing Event to Serve Monterey, California

Brighter Bites, a national nonprofit that delivers fresh fruits and vegetables directly into families’ hands, hosted a volunteer event of the Organic Produce Summit last week in Monterey, CA.

During the summit, volunteers came together to sort and pack fresh produce for 1,000 families in Monterey County across four sites, including Boys & Girls Club, YMCA, Frank Ledesma, and First Tee. The families participating in the program received approximately 50 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables along with recipes and tips to encourage healthier eating habits and food choices.

“The support of the produce industry is instrumental in the success of our program,” said Rich Dachman, CEO of Brighter Bites. “We are thankful for the volunteers that helped make this distribution possible and also the produce donors who provided organic fruits and vegetables to fill the boxes for each of the one thousand families served in Monterey County.”

Produce donors include Braga Fresh, Cal Organics, Taylor Farms, Sunkist, Driscoll’s, Trinity Fruit, and Monterey Mushrooms.

“The inaugural Seed to Service volunteer event with Brighter Bites was a tremendous success, and we are thrilled with how it went!” said Keigan Roos, event manager for Organic Produce Summit. “We look forward to continuing this event at OPS in the future and giving back to our community by providing fresh fruits and vegetables. Together, we can make a lasting impact and support the health and well-being of our community.”

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

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 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 50 million pounds of produce and millions of nutrition education materials to more than 500,000 individuals (including teachers) in Houston, Dallas, Austin, New York City, the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area, Southwest Florida, Salinas, Los Angeles, Bakersfield, and San Antonio. To learn more about Brighter Bites visit www.brighterbites.org.