Dear Editor,

The City of Escalon, through eTrans, held its annual “Stuff The Bus” food drive on Saturday, November 22, 2025 in front of Mar-Val Food Stores.

Community donations included 20 turkeys, one ham, 107 bags of groceries totaling 1,852 pounds of food, and $225.72 in cash to purchase additional turkeys. This program is in coordination with, and benefits the Escalon C.A.R.E. program, and goes to community members who are in need of meal assistance this holiday season.

Escalon C.A.R.E. serves food to 100 households a week through its Weekly Emergency Supplemental Food Program on the first, second, fourth and (when applicable) fifth Wednesday of each month from 9:45 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. The C.A.R.E. program is open for the residents of Escalon, Farmington and Collegeville who need food and whose income meets the Federal poverty level (Self-reporting of income is required). A bag of food is provided free, one for each household.

eTrans, MarVal’s Food Stores and Escalon C.A.R.E thank the Escalon community and Supervisor Robert Rickman’s office for helping with this food drive.

For information on eTrans, please call (209) 541-6645 or visit www.cityofescalon.org

For information on Escalon C.A.R.E., please call (209) 417-2048 or visit www.escalonpres.org/care-food-bank/

John Andoh,

Transit Manager