Smithfield Foods Donates $100,000 to Fund "Pay What You Can" Mobile Food Market in North Carolina

SMITHFIELD, Va., Feb. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Smithfield Foods has donated $100,000 to fund a mobile food retail market that will provide fresh food in food deserts throughout southeastern North Carolina.

The donation to Ripe for Revival, a nonprofit founded to address food insecurity in North Carolina, was used to purchase a bus that has been transformed into a mobile food market. The bus will offer fresh, local, healthy food to the public, including many families experiencing food insecurity, at pay-what-you-can prices. Smithfield’s donation brings Ripe for Revival’s fleet up to a total of five buses.

“Having access to affordable food is a significant issue in rural communities,” said Steve Evans, vice president of community development for Smithfield Foods. “We are focused on improving food access, and we’re building capacity to fill the need. This innovative partnership with Ripe for Revival will meet our neighbors where they are and provide fresh food everyone can afford.”

“We are beyond thankful to Smithfield Foods for helping us revive communities through food,” said Will Kornegay, founder and CEO of Ripe Revival. “This generous donation not only has grown our fleet of pay-what-you-can mobile markets, but also is helping us expand our reach. We have great plans for 2024 to serve more North Carolina families facing food insecurity, and Smithfield Foods is helping us achieve that goal.”

Ripe for Revival’s mobile markets currently sell local produce, meat and dairy at up to a dozen sites per week in Beaufort, Edgecombe, Halifax, Lenoir, Nash, Pitt and Wake counties. In addition to funding the purchase of the mobile market bus, Smithfield’s donation will provide operational support to expand Ripe for Revival’s mobile market service area to Sampson County.

Will Kornegay started Ripe Revival in 2018 to help farmers find markets for the imperfect produce they could not sell to grocery stores. In 2021, he launched Ripe for Revival, the nonprofit arm of Ripe Revival, to operate a fleet of pay-what-you-can mobile markets to address food insecurity in North Carolina. Over the past few years, Ripe Revival has played a role in serving thousands of families and hundreds of nonprofits by helping to distribute more than 4 million pounds of produce to fight food insecurity. Since June 2022, the mobile market buses have distributed more than 40,000 pounds of produce.

Smithfield’s hunger relief program, Helping Hungry Homes®, has provided hundreds of millions of servings of protein all 50 U.S. states, as well as in Poland, Romania and Mexico, since 2008. Smithfield donated nearly 25 million servings of protein to food banks, disaster relief efforts and community outreach programs across the U.S. in 2022 and has pledged to donate 200 million servings of protein by 2025.

For more information about Smithfield’s programs to support local communities, please visit smithfieldfoods.com/helping-communities.

About Smithfield Foods, Inc.

Headquartered in Smithfield, Virginia, since 1936, Smithfield Foods, Inc. is a U.S. food company that employs more than 54,000 people in seven countries and partners with thousands of American farmers. As one of the world’s leading vertically integrated protein companies, we are dedicated to producing “Good food. Responsibly.^®” to feed a growing world population. We have pioneered sustainability standards for more than two decades, including our industry-leading commitments to become carbon negative in our U.S. company-owned operations and reduce GHG emissions 30% across our entire U.S. value chain by 2030. We believe in the power of protein to end food insecurity and have donated hundreds of millions of food servings to food banks, disaster relief efforts and community outreach programs in all 50 U.S. states. Smithfield boasts a portfolio of high-quality iconic brands, such as Smithfield^®, Eckrich^®, Gwaltney^® and Nathan’s Famous^®, among many others. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com and connect with us on Facebook, X, formerly known as Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Threads.

About Ripe Revival

In 2018, entrepreneur Will Kornegay started Ripe Revival to help farmers find markets for their imperfect produce. Ripe Revival uses the produce to create value-added products and consumer packaged goods as well as offer delivery of food subscription boxes to consumers’ homes from the Triangle to the coast. In 2021, Kornegay started Ripe for Revival, the company’s nonprofit arm to operate a fleet of pay-what-you-can mobile markets to address food insecurity in North Carolina. Since June 2022, the converted buses have distributed more than 40,000 pounds of produce. The innovative approach to addressing food insecurity has garnered media attention from Southern Living, WRAL, WITN, WNCT, Public Radio East and more. For more information, visit riperevival.com.