Newport Beach organization partners with gridiron giant to promote fresh food awareness

Davante Adams projects as a high pick in fantasy football drafts in the upcoming weeks.

The Las Vegas Raiders receiver, a six-time Pro Bowl selection, had 100 receptions for 1,516 yards and a league-best 14 touchdowns last season.

But Steve Brazeel hopes the choice that Adams himself recently made will help bring awareness to production of a different kind.

Brazeel is the founder of Newport Beach-based Project FoodBox, which routes farm fresh fruits and vegetables from farmers to nonprofits, food banks, faith-based organizations and others throughout the western United States.

Brazeel said Project FoodBox was born out of the United States Department of Agriculture’s now-defunct “Farmers to Families” food box program, which launched in 2020 to try to offset food insecurity caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Receiver Davante Adams visits Three Squares Food Bank in Las Vegas with Steve Brazeel, founder of Project FoodBox. As an ambassador for Project FoodBox, Adams will help raise awareness of food insecurity and the importance of nutritious fresh produce for vulnerable populations.

(Courtesy of Project FoodBox)

More than 4.5 million food boxes have shipped, resulting in more than 73 million meals. And Adams is now on board.

Adams visited Three Square Food Bank in Las Vegas on July 21, meeting with employees and members of the community and helping to stock and distribute fresh produce. He announced that he will feature Project FoodBox as his chosen cause and beneficiary for the NFL’s “My Cause My Cleats” initiative.

Adams will personally help design special cleats featuring Project FoodBox and wear them in a designated game this season.

“Where I grew up, we didn’t always have access to the things you need to maintain a healthy lifestyle,” said Adams, a native of the Bay Area’s East Palo Alto, in a statement. “I’m in a really fortunate position now to be able to help address those disparities. I believe everyone deserves nutritious, fresh foods, and programs like Project FoodBox make that possible.”

Brazeel is also the founder and chief executive of Project FoodBox’s parent company, SunTerra Produce Traders, as well as Elevated Foods. He was introduced to Adams through a mutual friend.

He said Project FoodBox really struck a chord with Adams.

“We’re incredibly excited to partner with Davante to really create awareness of the work that these food bank partners are doing, to shine a light on it,” Brazeel said. “We’re obviously over-the-moon excited to see what kind of cleats that Davante and his team design, excited to see the unboxing here in a couple of months.”

Project FoodBox has worked with more than 100 farmers so far to purchase produce, Brazeel said, rather than having food donated.

Las Vegas receiver Davante Adams unloads a delivery of fresh product from Project FoodBox at the Three Squares Food Bank in Las Vegas.

(Courtesy of Project FoodBox)

“We have this bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables that are grown in California every day of the year, and we’ve figured out a way to partner with these farmers to create equal access to these farm fresh fruits and vegetables in all of our communities,” he said.

The success has led Brazeel to seek other ways to help out locally. He said Project FoodBox, which works with dozens of food bank partners, has also pivoted its operations to participate in a medically tailored grocery box program in Orange County.

That’s through a partnership with CalOptima, which handles the Medi-Cal population in the county.

Brazeel said the program will soon expand to five other counties in Southern Caliornia, delivering healthy fresh fruit and vegetables as a covered benefit to each one.

“We’re super-excited that we have these multiple points of entry to bring healthy, fresh fruits and vegetables to all of our communities,” he said.