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More Than 25,000 Pounds Collected During Food Drive
Food rtd
Nearly 1,300 pounds of food were collected for the Escalon C.A.R.E. Center during the recent Regional Transit District holiday food drive. Here, Escalon Transit Coordinator John Andoh adds some more grocery bags of items donated to help ‘Stuff the Bus.’ Marg Jackson/The Times

San Joaquin Regional Transit District (RTD) and its partners collected over 25,000 pounds of food at the 23rd Annual Stuff the Bus food drive from Nov. 19 through 21. The food collected will provide 20,357 meals for those in need. This year RTD alone received 2,214 more pounds of food than in 2020.

Food 4 Less on Lower Sacramento Road in Stockton hosted RTD’s three-day event. KWIN and KJOY radio stations promoted the campaign with live on-site broadcasts, promotional appearances, and public service announcements.

“RTD is proud to serve our community through the annual Stuff the Bus food drive and to lead a group of local agencies that, by working together, can benefit so many local residents in need this holiday season,” said Chairman of the Board Michael Restuccia.

RTD was joined by Escalon eTrans in partnership with Mar-Val Food Stores and Manteca Transit in partnership with Manteca Food 4 Less, in a countywide effort to hold simultaneous food drives in each city—using local staff, volunteers, and vehicles—to collect food for non-profit agencies in each community: Emergency Food Bank of Stockton, Second Harvest Food Bank, and the Escalon C.A.R.E. Center. Each organization was responsible for collecting the following:

• RTD—18,325 pounds

• Manteca Transit—5,832 pounds

• Escalon eTrans—1,290 pounds

In addition to thanking campaign partners for their continued support, RTD would like to especially recognize a few people and organizations who helped make this year’s food drive a success:

• All the Stuff the Bus event volunteers.

• Boy Scouts of America.

• SUSD Teacher Anne Swehla Garcia for collecting and donating $5,000 worth of turkeys from her community.

• Cost Plus/World Market for donating over 300 pounds of turkeys.

• Emergency Food Bank of Stockton staff and volunteers.

• UOP Men’s Tennis Team volunteers.

• UOP Women’s Volleyball team for donating food collected from their games.

San Joaquin Regional Transit District (RTD) is the regional transit provider for San Joaquin County. RTD’s mission is to provide a safe, reliable, and efficient transportation system for the region. For more information visit sjRTD.com, follow RTD on Facebook and Twitter, or call (209) 943-1111.