LIsa Helfman's guest appearances

LIsa Helfman

Take Out With Ashley and Robyn

The You-est You® Podcast

Connect Kindness Podcast

Styling Social Justice

The Produce Moms Podcast

Tonya Antle

Jonathon Wolfson

Lisa Price

Dana Gunders

Tim Ryan

Kris Carr

Steven Lin

Neal Barnard

Aviva Romm

Mike Weeks

Christy Coleman

Laird Hamilton

Jason Wachob

Sam Adams

Justin Wren

OwlTail

“We came up with this formula to combine produce distribution and nutrition education with a fun food experience”  Lisa Helfman (06:06 - 06:13)   At baseline, low-income families are eating so little produce, they’re ignoring it at the grocery store because they’re intimidated by it. Parents fear spending money on food that might spoil, because they are unaware of how to properly prepare it. Brighter Bites is not only exposing these families to healthy food for free, but assisting them with preparation so they can then apply it to their normal shopping and meal experience.   Early in her career, Lisa worked mostly helping non-profit organizations and government entities in public finance. From there, she got a good vantage point of the business of non-profit, particularly in schools. She went on to work for Texas Children’s Hospital which then gave her a larger view of the entire healthcare system. She noticed most of the campaigns were built around treating illness, instead of preventing them.    Lisa was already participating in a co-op in her own home which gave her family access to fresh and local produce. It was then that she noticed a dramatic changs in the eating habits of her children, as they were regularly exposed to fresh, and new, produce. After beginning to volunteer with underserved communities, she wanted to be able to give children the same access, and came up with the plan of Brighter Bites.   “I was really passionate about produce and I knew from my own health how much it could change your life.” Lisa Helfman (15:58 - 16:04)   While still under Texas Children’s Hospital, Lisa began working on Brighter Bites as a source of fresh produce to school children. Having already built a relationship with KIPP - one of the largest charter schools across the country - they were the first school that agreed to participate in the fall of 2012.   Lisa established the three pillars Brighter Bites continues to run off of: produce distribution, nutrition education, and fun food experience.   Pre-coronavirus, Brighter Bites would have pallets of produce delivered to schools with parents and volunteers bagging and handing them out to kids. Each would be sent home with two fresh bags of produce containing 50 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables a week for 16 weeks. Now, the collections have turned into boxes that are pre-packed at a produce distributor before being given.   Brighter Bites also trains teachers in nutrition education to then teach their students in the classroom. Parents receive nutrition tip sheets, handbooks, and recipes which are now also available online or on their mobile app.    To show parents how they can use the produce they’re being given, while distributing produce, the Brighter Bites program gives parents samples of what is in their bag. The goal being to demystify produce and show them it can taste good.   “If you don’t teach people how to use the product they’re not going to buy it, they’re not going to eat it. You really have to put the education component with the access.” Lisa Helfman (19:30 - 19:44)   Lisa points out that Brighter Bites not only serves to help the children at the schools they’re in, but their entire families. Data shows that two years after being in the Brighter Bites program, families are eating 19 more servings of produce a week.    This fall, Brighter Bites will be in 138 schools, delivering 10 million pounds of produce to 34,000 families.    How to get involved  Join The Produce Moms Group on Facebook and continue the discussion every week!  Reach out to us - we’d love to hear more about where you are in life and business! Find out more here.     If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe and leave a quick review on iTunes. It would mean the world to hear your feedback and we’d love for you to help us spread the word!

“We came up with this formula to combine produce distribution and nutrition education with a fun food experience”  Lisa Helfman (06:06 - 06:13) At baseline, low-income families are eating so little produce, they’re ignoring it at the grocery store because they’re intimidated by it. Parents fear spending money on food that might spoil, because they are unaware of how to properly prepare it. Brighter Bites is not only exposing these families to healthy food for free, but assisting them with preparation so they can then apply it to their normal shopping and meal experience. Early in her career, Lisa worked mostly helping non-profit organizations and government entities in public finance. From there, she got a good vantage point of the business of non-profit, particularly in schools. She went on to work for Texas Children’s Hospital which then gave her a larger view of the entire healthcare system. She noticed most of the campaigns were built around treating illness, instead of preventing them.  Lisa was already participating in a co-op in her own home which gave her family access to fresh and local produce. It was then that she noticed a dramatic changs in the eating habits of her children, as they were regularly exposed to fresh, and new, produce. After beginning to volunteer with underserved communities, she wanted to be able to give children the same access, and came up with the plan of Brighter Bites. “I was really passionate about produce and I knew from my own health how much it could change your life.” Lisa Helfman (15:58 - 16:04) While still under Texas Children’s Hospital, Lisa began working on Brighter Bites as a source of fresh produce to school children. Having already built a relationship with KIPP - one of the largest charter schools across the country - they were the first school that agreed to participate in the fall of 2012. Lisa established the three pillars Brighter Bites continues to run off of: produce distribution, nutrition education, and fun food experience. Pre-coronavirus, Brighter Bites would have pallets of produce delivered to schools with parents and volunteers bagging and handing them out to kids. Each would be sent home with two fresh bags of produce containing 50 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables a week for 16 weeks. Now, the collections have turned into boxes that are pre-packed at a produce distributor before being given. Brighter Bites also trains teachers in nutrition education to then teach their students in the classroom. Parents receive nutrition tip sheets, handbooks, and recipes which are now also available online or on their mobile app.  To show parents how they can use the produce they’re being given, while distributing produce, the Brighter Bites program gives parents samples of what is in their bag. The goal being to demystify produce and show them it can taste good. “If you don’t teach people how to use the product they’re not going to buy it, they’re not going to eat it. You really have to put the education component with the access.” Lisa Helfman (19:30 - 19:44) Lisa points out that Brighter Bites not only serves to help the children at the schools they’re in, but their entire families. Data shows that two years after being in the Brighter Bites program, families are eating 19 more servings of produce a week.  This fall, Brighter Bites will be in 138 schools, delivering 10 million pounds of produce to 34,000 families.  How to get involved <ul> <li>Join The Produce Moms Group on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/316715662104709/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and continue the discussion every week! </li> <li>Reach out to us - we’d love to hear more about where you are in life and business! Find out more <a>here</a>. </li> </ul> If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe and leave a quick review on iTunes. It would mean the world to hear your feedback and we’d love for you to help us spread the word!

EP181: Demystifying Produce For Lower Income Families Through School Programs With Lisa Helfman, Founder Of Brighter Bites

In this episode we interview Lisa Helfman of Brighter Bites. Their mission is to teach children in underserved communities how to eat healthy, while also providing the produce free of charge to do so.--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/connectkindness/support

In this episode we interview Lisa Helfman of Brighter Bites. Their mission is to teach children in underserved communities how to eat healthy, while also providing the produce free of charge to do so. --- Support this podcast: <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/connectkindness/support" rel="payment nofollow" target="_blank">https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/connectkindness/support</a>

Episode 6 - Lisa Helfman of Brighter Bites

For several years, Lisa Helfman and her family took part in a weekly fruit and vegetable co-op, and she watched her children’s eating habits dramatically transform. So much so that her little boy turned down a piece of cake at a birthday party, craving instead the blueberries he’d grown fond of eating at home.Like most moms, Lisa realized this was a fairly significant decision for a five-year-old, and she wondered what kind of influence regular access to fresh produce might have on all children. Especially if that produce was free to families.She was inspired to replicate this type of positive change in underserved communities identified as “food deserts,” or areas where access to grocery stores stocked with fresh fruits and vegetables is sorely limited. Because nutrition education in these communities is often equally lacking, Lisa’s vision was to bring a produce co-op to schools in these neighborhoods that included an educational component.She created a collaborative partnership between the Houston Food Bank and Dr. Shreela Sharma, an expert in nutrition and a professor of epidemiology at UTHealth School of Public Health, and they launched the program now known as Brighter Bites. Four years later, Brighter Bites has delivered more than 8,000,000 pounds of fresh produce to over 20,000 families at over 90 sites in Houston, Dallas, and Austin.When she isn’t pushing kids to eat kale smoothies, Lisa is Director of Real Estate for H-E-B and is working on the company’s significant expansion in Houston. Prior to joining H-E-B, Lisa served as Director of Real Estate Services at Texas Children’s Hospital where she created the Real Estate Services Department in order to centralize the hospital’s real estate operations. Lisa worked at Texas Children’s for seven years after leaving Vinson &amp; Elkins where she represented many urban redevelopment clients, non-profits, and government entities in financings, real estate, and other general matters. Lisa received her JD from University of Houston Law Center and her BA from Tulane University.

For several years, Lisa Helfman and her family took part in a weekly fruit and vegetable co-op, and she watched her children’s eating habits dramatically transform. So much so that her little boy turned down a piece of cake at a birthday party, craving instead the blueberries he’d grown fond of eating at home. Like most moms, Lisa realized this was a fairly significant decision for a five-year-old, and she wondered what kind of influence regular access to fresh produce might have on all children. Especially if that produce was free to families. She was inspired to replicate this type of positive change in underserved communities identified as “food deserts,” or areas where access to grocery stores stocked with fresh fruits and vegetables is sorely limited. Because nutrition education in these communities is often equally lacking, Lisa’s vision was to bring a produce co-op to schools in these neighborhoods that included an educational component. She created a collaborative partnership between the Houston Food Bank and Dr. Shreela Sharma, an expert in nutrition and a professor of epidemiology at UTHealth School of Public Health, and they launched the program now known as Brighter Bites. Four years later, Brighter Bites has delivered more than 8,000,000 pounds of fresh produce to over 20,000 families at over 90 sites in Houston, Dallas, and Austin. When she isn’t pushing kids to eat kale smoothies, Lisa is Director of Real Estate for H-E-B and is working on the company’s significant expansion in Houston. Prior to joining H-E-B, Lisa served as Director of Real Estate Services at Texas Children’s Hospital where she created the Real Estate Services Department in order to centralize the hospital’s real estate operations. Lisa worked at Texas Children’s for seven years after leaving Vinson &amp; Elkins where she represented many urban redevelopment clients, non-profits, and government entities in financings, real estate, and other general matters. Lisa received her JD from University of Houston Law Center and her BA from Tulane University.

Episode 77 with Guest Lisa Helfman