Brighter Bites, a nonprofit that delivers fresh fruits and vegetables directly to families, has opened a new location in Phoenix, which is also its 11th Arizona.
Brighter Bites will serve six schools within Cartwright School District and Alhambra Unified School District, which will directly affect almost 900 families and provide approximately 288,000 pounds of fresh produce to its participants, according to a news release.
“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,” Diane Corley, Tomahawk Elementary School principal, said in the release. “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, Burton Family Foundation and the locally based St. Mary’s Food Bank, the release said.
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“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,” Laura Brill, St. Mary’s Food Bank director of culinary and nutrition programs, said in the release.
The first distribution in Phoenix began Oct. 16 and will continue each week through the end of May, according to the release. Brighter Bites says it plans to further expand its reach into more schools within the Cartwright and Alhambra school districts in the 2024-25 school year.
