RALEIGH – President Donald Trump is visiting western N.C. on Monday as the Republican National Convention kicks off week-long festivities.
According to a White House official, President Trump will visit Mills River, located in Henderson County, to visit a Farmers to Families Food Box program site and deliver remarks on the administration’s support for American farmers and families through the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program.
The President will tour Flavor First Growers and Packers, an organization that partners with Baptists on Mission to build the Farmers to Families Food Boxes and how the boxes are packaged and placed into refrigerated trucks and then delivered to families in need. Following the tour, he will deliver remarks outside.
Spearheaded by U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and presidential advisor Ivanka Trump, the Farmers to Families Food Box Program puts American farmers, ranchers, and distributors of all sizes back to work while supporting over-burdened food banks and food-insecure families. Both Perdue and Trump will join the President on the trip.
“I am incredibly excited to join the President in North Carolina as he sees first-hand the incredible work being done through our Farmers to Families Food Box program,” said Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump. “With nearly 70 million boxes of nutritious, locally-sourced fresh fruit, vegetable, milk and meat delivered to date, we are deeply appreciative of our strong and innovative partners like Baptists on Mission and Flavor First Growers and Packers that allow us to continue the fight to feed our nation’s hungry, support our farmers and strengthen our workforce.”
The program, which authorized $3 billion in direct purchasing under the CARES Act and the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, has delivered nearly 70 million family-sized food boxes containing fresh and nutritious food grown by American farmers to those most in need during the pandemic. This innovative program has supported our farmers, strengthened our workforce and nourished families.
Baptists on Mission was awarded a USDA contract for the Farmers to Families Food Box Program. They are the primary distributor of the boxes, however, they partner with an experienced food grower and packer, Flavor First, to build the boxes full of fresh and nutritious produce. Once the boxes are packaged, Baptists on Mission quickly moves the boxes to 200 non-profits, food banks and faith-based organizations across the state.
This will be President Trump’s 11th official visit to North Carolina.
