Since 2012, a Texas nonprofit has distributed more than 8 million pounds of rescued produce to more than 20,000 low-income families, and claims to be acclimating kids and entire families to prefer a healthier diet built around fresh fruits and vegetables, reports Civil Eats.
The idea behind Brighter Bites, founded by Houston real-estate lawyer Lisa Helfman, was that unsold produce distributed free for 16 weeks at low-income schools would change what parents buy and how the entire household eats. Its success has attracted millions in millions in private and public funding, as, more recently, a partnership with Sysco, the largest food distributor, “which could allow Brighter Bites to go national while also helping to tackle the significant problem of wasted ‘ugly’ produce.”
Trucks “loaded with unsalable produce that would otherwise be tilled under by Sysco’s network of farmers head toward Texas food banks, where it’s specifically earmarked for Brighter Bites,” says Civil Eats.
The Brighter Bites pilot program started at a Houston charter school with weekly packages containing eight to 10 varieties of fruits and vegetables for a family of four. The co-op soon delivered to more than 90 locations with help from food banks, grants from the Texas Department of Agriculture and the USDA.
Helfman says the key to getting buy-in from parents and changing attitudes about what in many cases are new and unusual produce, such as kale, was a collaborative and dignified approach. Recipe cards for how to cook unfamiliar items are included in grocery bags, and samples of each week’s “featured recipe” are passed out “at the after-school distributions,” says Civil Eats. “To get parents further invested, Brighter Bites asked them to volunteer with the sorting and bagging process each week.”
Dr. Shreela Sharma, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Texas School of Public Health and Helfman’s partner in the project, evaluated Brighter Bites after two years and found that 98 percent of parents reported their children ate more fruits and vegetables while participating, and that 74 percent of participating families reported maintaining the same level of produce buying and consumption even after the distributions ended.