For more than three decades, the United Samaritans Foundation has been providing a road to hope for Stanislaus County residents with its Emergency Food Box and Daily Bread Mobile Lunch programs.

Now, the organization is hoping that road is a two-way street.

Under the Road to Hope campaign, USF is actively seeking community partners to help replace the two oldest trucks in its four-truck fleet – the other trucks were replaced in 2023 and 2024 – at a time when the economy is particularly challenging.

“You can’t do what we do without the trucks,” said executive director Linda Murphy-Julien. “The big difference is that the state is going to be getting rid of generators, so we’ve had to go to batteries. The truck is not electric. It’s still gas-powered; thankfully not diesel. But running the trucks will be a battery, instead of a generator. They batteries have a five-to-seven-year life span, but they’re not cheap.”

Each truck, with licensing and additional equipment, costs about $80,000. That’s before they’re converted into a functioning kitchen unit, which runs an additional $170,000. All told, that’s $500,000 for the two vehicles. The new trucks are partially paid for, but USF needs help getting across the finish line during this sluggish economy, which has provided a number of challenges for the nonprofit.

“The current economy is a challenge for us because we have to buy fuel and the price of fuel keeps going up,” said Joe Pruzzo, USF’s assistant director. “That puts a huge dent in our budget. Nobody thought we’d have $6-per-gallon fuel a year ago.”

While it cost about $80 to fill a truck before the spike in fuel prices last February, USF is paying more than double that amount to fill its trucks today.

Another challenge facing USF are the tariffs implemented by President Trump. Each of the new trucks increased in price by $25,000 because of the tariffs on metal.

“When we were looking at the new trucks, I went to Cal Central (Catering Trailers) and asked them to give me a price for one truck, and a price for two trucks,” said Murphy-Julien. “The quote that they gave me and the amount that changed between the quote and delivery was almost $30,000 per truck.”

Updating USF’s aging fleet will be a lasting legacy for Murphy-Julien, who announced that she will retire as executive director on Dec. 30. She joined the organization in September 2019, just months before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. This will be her third retirement – she retired from Turlock Unified School District and from Sacred Heart School – and she said she’s finally ready to enjoy some personal time.

“Everybody asks me, ‘Is this your final retirement?’ and I say, ‘Of course it’s not,’” Murphy-Julien joked. “But for right now, I want my health to be better, and I have grandchildren that I love and want to spend more time with.”

Founded in 1994, United Samaritans Foundation is the county’s oldest direct food provider, serving families and individuals experiencing food insecurity, financial hardship, and homelessness.

Each day, USF’s trucks make scheduled stops in Turlock (15 stops), Keyes and Ceres (14), Modesto (4), Hughson, Empire Waterford and Denair (9), and Patterson and Grayson (4). In 2025, the Daily Bread program served nearly 294,000 meals. In 2026, as of Sept. 30, the organization has served nearly 236,000 meals – on pace for about 315,000.

Meanwhile, the Emergency Food Box program – made possible with funds from the city of Turlock’s Community Development Block Grant – served more than 16,000 meals last year and is on pace to serve as many this year. All that’s needed to receive a food box is a picture ID, proof of address (within the last six months), proof of income (from the last six months) for each household member 18 and older, and ID or Medi-Cal cards for each household member.

The next Emergency Food Box delivery will be Oct. 27 and Oct. 30 from 9 a.m. to noon at the We Care dining hall, across the street from the USF offices, located at 220 S. Broadway. Boxes can also be picked up Oct. 22 and Oct. 26 from 8 to 11 a.m. at the Hughson warehouse, 2413 Third St.

All told, USF serves about 1,300 individuals each day – nearly 64 percent of whom are individuals and families, 23 percent seniors, almost 8 percent individuals with disabilities, and just under 6 percent of whom are unhoused.

USF is now working in conjunction with Turlock Together, which will increase the numbers it feeds each month.

“People are doing the best that they can,” said Murphy-Julien, referring to the economic challenges. “And if we aren’t careful, and they don’t get help, then they are going to part of the unhoused. Foster Farms closed this past year, and our numbers went up. People who have never asked for help are now coming and asking for help. People are running out of food.”

Those interested in donating to the Road to Hope campaign can visit www.unitedsamaritans.org.