Manteca Police are playing Santa once again for needy kids as they’ve done for years.

The Manteca Police Officers Association in conjunction with the Police Chief’s Foundation is shopping for 80 or so kids this Saturday at Target. They will end up spending an average of about $100 per child.

In the past officers have noted most of the Christmas wish lists from kids don’t include toys but rather practical things that most of us take for granted such as food and clothing.

At the same time Manteca Police are assisting with the White & Gold Fundraiser for St. Mary’s Dining Hall in Stockton.

It’s a drive to collect up to 10,000 pairs of new white socks for distribution to the homeless in San Joaquin County.

Police Chief Nick Obligacion urges anyone who wishes to help can pick up a few pairs of white socks when they are holiday shopping and drop them by the Manteca Police Department at the Civic Center, 1001 W. Center St.

Obligacion said the white in the fundraiser’s name comes from the color of the socks while gold refers to the value the homeless place in being able to have clean socks to wear.



Councilman on the

job for Manteca

Richard Silverman was taking care of city business late Sunday morning.

But instead of wearing his councilman’s cap, he was out helping direct traffic at Atherton Drive and South Main Street where a significant collision had occurred.

Silverman, along with his wife Linda, have been active volunteers for years with the Manteca Fire Department’s Seniors Aiding Fire Effort 



Random act of kindness

at the Waffle House

Fleener Richards last week went to the Waffle House on North Main Street for breakfast. He received the check as he finished and was ready to pay the tab. The waitress, though, returned and picked up the check saying she had to add it up. She came back and said a Good Samaritan picked up the cost of the meal.

“I sincerely thank the party who showed this kind of holiday spirit to me,” Richards wrote in an email to the Bulletin. “It was not the food that impressed me, although it was good, it was someone’s holiday spirit that deeply touched me. When someone thinks Manteca doesn’t have some of the best people in the world, guess again. I wish to extend my prayers and best wishes to all on the Christmas holiday.”