EXCLUSIVE: Ivanka Trump spent Giving Tuesday in North Carolina with Ripe Revival, an organization that works to distribute meat, dairy, fresh produce and other items to food-insecure rural families in the state.
“Wonderful organizations like Ripe Revival foster connectivity between America’s small farms and hungry families in need of healthy and nutritious food,” Trump said. “On this Giving Tuesday, I had the pleasure of joining Ripe Revival in North Carolina to help distribute their beautiful, locally sourced fresh produce, protein and dairy to food-insecure rural families near Raleigh.”
During her visit, Trump helped Ripe for Revival pack its mobile market bus with food and later volunteered at one of their weekly distribution sites in Littleton, N.C. The organization has partnered with the Ed Fitts Charitable Foundation and Littleton Academy, a community organization and a school, to establish a voucher program that lets parents shop for groceries with their children after school.
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Prices for the food products in the mobile market bus are subsidized and cost about 25% less than prices found at the grocery store.
“Ripe For Revival’s purpose is to revive communities through food by creating an impact from the farm to consumer and beyond,” CEO Will Kornegay told Fox News. “Our mission is rooted in agriculture and driven by connecting communities together.”
Ivanka Trump spent Giving Tuesday in North Carolina. (Trump)
“We are honored to spend Giving Tuesday with Ivanka Trump and her team as they visit the Ripe For Revival 501(c)(3) pay-what-you-can Mobile Market program,” Kornegay said. “This nonprofit program makes fresh, local produce and food accessible and affordable to all, regardless of their budget.”
Ripe Revival credits the creation of their business and nonprofit organization to the Farmers to Families Food Box program that Trump spearheaded alongside USDA’s Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue during the Trump administration. That program provided nearly 4 billion meals to families in need during the COVID pandemic.
The former program participants, including Ripe for Revival, have grown both their for-profit food distribution business and their nonprofit organization.
Since she left government, Trump has focused on philanthropic efforts that include supporting farmers in the United States, fighting food insecurity and aiding in various disaster relief efforts at home and abroad.
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During the early days of Russia’s war against Ukraine, she helped supply 1 million meals to Ukrainian families in need.
Domestically, she has provided financial relief and volunteered at disaster-stricken areas across the United States, including Kentucky, Florida and Louisiana.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital this month, Trump said she does “not plan to be involved in politics” again.
Ripe Revival helps food insecure rural communities. (Ripe Revival)
“I love my father very much. This time around, I am choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family,” Ivanka Trump told Fox News Digital. “I do not plan to be involved in politics.”
“While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena. I am grateful to have had the honor of serving the American people and will always be proud of many of our administration’s accomplishments.”
She told Fox she is “extremely close” with her father.
“That hasn’t changed and will never change,” she added. “I’ve had many roles over the years but that of daughter is one of the most elemental and consequential. I am loving this time with my kids, loving life in Miami and the freedom and privacy with having returned to the private sector. This has been one of the greatest times of my life.”
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Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, moved to Miami after spending four years in Washington, D.C., and serving in the Trump administration.
“My kids are thriving, and I want to maintain this cadence — this rhythm — at this point in our family’s life,” she said, adding that “time is fleeting, and every parent will tell you it really does go by so quickly.”
The couple has three children — Arabella, 11, Joseph, 9, and Theodore, 6.
“They are at critical ages, and we are enjoying these moments with them,” Trump said. “We’re happy where we are right now, and we will continue to support my father as his kids.”
Trump, who served as a senior adviser in the White House during her father’s administration, told Fox News Digital that she “never intended to go into politics.”
Ivanka Trump volunteered with Ripe Revival.
“I’m very proud of what I was able to accomplish,” she said. “I left it all on the field, and I don’t miss it.”
During her time in the Trump administration, Ivanka Trump championed policies that supported economic opportunities for working families, including doubling the child tax credit, child care support, education workforce development, and paid family leave. She successfully advocated for the largest expansion ever of Child Care and Development Block Grants.
She also worked with members of Congress to secure 12 weeks of paid family leave for federal workers, and she took part in COVID negotiations to ensure workers at small businesses had paid sick leave to care for themselves or sick family members.
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, she worked closely with the Small Business Administration and the Department of the Treasury to help enact the Paycheck Protection Program and worked with the USDA to create the Farmers to Families Food Box program, which delivered more than 170 million boxes of fresh food to families in need.
During her time in Washington, she also pushed to double Department of Justice funding to combat human trafficking.