Through its affiliations with private and governmental agencies, City of Destiny, a church at the southern area of Apopka, has regular food distribution events.
This week, on Tuesday, March 9, the church formerly known as New Destiny Christian Center held a distribution where 1,320 boxes of food were given to families, and some of those families may have noticed a famous face helping put the boxes in their cars as Ivanka Trump, daughter of former President Donald Trump, joined in the food distribution at the church.
In her first public appearance since leaving the White House in January, Ivanka Trump also visited the homes of two families who could not make it to the distribution event to help deliver boxes of food, and then Trump capped the afternoon of events with a visit to the Lifeboat Project, an Apopka-based program that helps survivors of human trafficking.
Her visit was coordinated by Todd Lamphere, whose title is pastor of global outreach for City of Destiny, but who serves as chief of staff for Paula White, City of Destiny pastor.
White is the Trump’s family pastor, something she’s been doing for 20 years, Lamphere said, and even though Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, White still serves in that pastoral role for the Trumps.
“This is a long-standing relationship with the (Trump) family. It’s continuing on regardless because she’s their family pastor,” Lamphere said.
Ivanka Trump’s appearances at the events came about, Lamphere said, because the former president’s daughter requested to be included at the next food distribution event at City of Destiny.
“Ivanka asked to do this so we set it up for her,” Lamphere said. “What we did Tuesday, I have set up for her across the country, so this isn’t our first rodeo with her.
“She loves doing this. It’s not a photo op for her. She wants to meet the people. She wants to help, and she wants to do those home visits. I’ve set up home visits for her across the country. She is just as genuine and real as she was Tuesday. That’s the way she is every time I’ve done this.”
The full story appears beginning on page 1A of the Friday, March 12, issue of The Apopka Chief.
The Apopka Chief and The Planter are weekly community newspapers, independently owned and family operated, that have served the greater Apopka area in Central Florida since 1923 and 1965 respectively. Subscribe today!
