Brighter Bites welcomes Gabriela D’Arrigo to its board of directors

Nonprofit Brighter Bites has added Gabriela D’Arrigo as its newest board member.

D’Arrigo is vice president of communications and marketing at D'Arrigo New York.

"We are honored to welcome Gabriela as the newest member to our board,” Brighter Bites CEO Rich Dachman said in a news release. “She and the D’Arrigo family have been large supporters of our work over the years and in helping us make a difference in the communities we serve. Our relationship is a wonderful example of when the produce industry locks arms with us in order to make healthy changes in lives across the country."

D’Arrigo New York, a family-owned and operated fresh fruits and vegetables supplier serving the Northeast since 1948, has been a Brighter Bites partner following the organization’s launch in New York City schools in 2018, according to a news release.

The company has donated a variety of unique fruits and vegetables to the New York programming produce bags and boxes, including plums, mangoes, dragon fruit, pumpkins, Brussels sprouts, asparagus and kiwi.

In addition to donating produce, D'Arrigo advocates for Brighter Bites’ work and mission with consistent involvement in fresh produce industry networking events.

Through this type of support, Brighter Bites has been able to connect with key members of the industry to continue growing its program base.

“Gabriela has been instrumental to Brighter Bites programming since we began our efforts in New York,” Shey Hall, northeast regional director at Brighter Bites, said in the release. D’Arrigo is always thinking of ways to expand the mission of Brighter Bites, Hall said in the release.

 D’Arrigo praised the work of Brighter Bites.

“I’ve said this before, but I will say it again, this is the only organization I’ve seen that has the vision and the ability to execute and deliver it,” D’Arrigo said in the release. “It’s an honor and a privilege to join the Brighter Bites team and have the opportunity to contribute to its future goals.” 

Since launching in 2012, Brighter Bites has distributed more than 50 million pounds of produce and hundreds of thousands of nutrition education materials to over 500,000 individuals through schools, after-school programs and summer camps in the cities in which it serves, the release said. The group says it uses a simple formula for introducing healthy lifestyles to families: produce distribution, nutrition education, and a fun food experience that helps to demystify produce and show just how great it can taste.