The Rocky Mount nonprofit Ripe for Revival is expanding its operations with a new mobile food market, the group announced Thursday. Ripe for Revival seeks to address food insecurity by purchasing excess crops from local farmers and selling them to people throughout Eastern North Carolina through a pay-what you can model.
Ripe for Revival currently serves 12 counties, setting up shop in places Kinston, Grifton, and Tarboro on a weekly basis. JT Tyndall oversees operations. He says the new battery-powered mobile market will allow the nonprofit to reach more communities that are in food deserts.
"Places like Aurora, for instance, that don't have a grocery store. So you have these places you got to drive a while just to get fresh food, or if you're in the inner city, some people don't have transportation, like in East Kinston," Tyndall said.
The new vehicle is made possible in part through support from the Coastal Credit Union Foundation. Tyndall says Ripe for Revival aims to reach 25 counties by the end of the year
