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Ivanka Trump has purchased 1 million meals to deliver to people in Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees on the Poland-Ukraine border, Fox News has learned.
Former President Trump’s eldest daughter personally contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars for the 1 million meals, which amounted to 158,400 pounds of food to Europe, a source familiar told Fox News.
Trump worked to connect several nonprofit organizations, including CityServe, City of Destiny and Mercy Chefs to help package shelf-stable meals of oatmeal and goulash. The choices of meals came from advised food preferences of aid workers in Ukraine.
Trump personally contributed the funds for all 1 million meals, which amounted to 158,400 pounds and 4,800 boxes of food to Europe, a source familiar told Fox News.
(Ivanka Trump)
Trump had been coordinating with the UPS Foundation, and her partners – City Serve, City of Destiny, the Pentecostal European Fellowship and several local church organizations – to deliver the food to Warsaw, Poland.
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From there, local partners, including hundreds of volunteers from the local community and faith-based organizations, are set to deliver the meals to Ukrainians seeking refuge in Poland, as well as to families still inside Ukraine.
“The Ukrainian people have shown inspiring courage and resilience during the invasion of their country by Russia,” Trump told Fox News. “As is often the case, pain and hardship are disproportionately borne by the most vulnerable.”
“With this food, I hope to provide a small source of comfort and nourishment for Ukrainians who are suffering so greatly,” she said.
Ivanka Trump’s 96-year-old grandmother Marie Zenicova, surrounded by Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner.
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A source close to Trump told Fox News that she has a “very personal connection” to the conflict in Ukraine, with her mother Ivana Trump growing up in Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia.
Trump’s 96-year-old grandmother Marie Zenicova, who lives with her in Florida, still teaches her children to “treasure our freedoms,” the source said.
Ivanka Trump and her grandmother.
Trump’s aid to Ukrainians comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s multifront war rages on.
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“People here in the U.S. are hungry to do something to help. People there are hungry for help,” senior Pastor of the City of Destiny Church in Orlando, Florida, and president of Paula White Ministries, Pastor Paula White-Cain told Fox News. “While we were deciding how to connect the two, I got a call from Ivanka Trump. She and I worked closely in the White House to put together a national hunger relief program called Farmers to Families. When I told Ivanka what we were doing, she went into action as only Ivanka can.”
White-Cain added: “Quite honestly, if it weren’t for her immediate involvement, a plane would not already be on its way to Poland right now to deliver 1 million meals for Ukrainian refugees fleeing the devastation of their nation.”
Since Putin invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, more than 3 million Ukrainians have fled the country. The United Nations estimated that Poland has taken in more than 1.2 million Ukrainian refugees, with hundreds of thousands more fleeing to neighboring countries including Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and more.
