San Joaquin County seniors, veterans get free public rides through local nonprofit

There are over 20,000 seniors in the Tracy and Lodi areas alone. For many vulnerable residents, some San Joaquin County bus services can't get them where they need to go.

So one local nonprofit is stepping in.

Mary-Lou Burton of Lodi needed a ride to her storage unit. The only problem was that her car was broken down.

"[The bus] just pulls up and if they don't see you standing out there or sitting out there, they go on," she said.

She decided to call Scott Sorensen, founder of Knights of Care. He doesn't arrive with any sword or shield, just a smile and a helping hand.

"We're focusing on senior and veteran transportation," he explained. "We're here to take phone calls. You book an appointment and we take you wherever you want to go."

Sorensen and his non-profit are new, but his dedication for the community is not.

So far, he's picked up and dropped off about ten people, taking them to anything from doctor's appointments to haircuts.

"I had one lady call me last week, say, 'Hey, I'm out of food and so is my cat.' It's like, 'Okay, I'll be right there,'" Sorensen said. "Those are the kind of things where if it wasn't for me, how is she feeding her cat? How's she getting her own groceries? I'm sure she'd have managed but it was a very simple thing to do."

Where local bus services can't go, Sorensen can for free.

But now, he's facing an issue.

"We're still having problems with the state of California," he explained. "The Department of Justice is tying me up from some funding that the great supervisors of the county want to give us, but here's a rule that DOJ has to have us in their system and we're over 120 some days past when I applied. It's getting expensive with gas going up and such things."

Donations from Raley's and other businesses are keeping him afloat, for now.

All he wants is the word to get out so he can help more people.

"The seniors tend to get forgotten about and they've contributed so much," Sorensen shared. "I'm lucky. I get to hear the stories and all that they've done."

While he's not a knight in shining armor, to Mary-Lou Burton, he might as well be.

"I live alone, I have a great family, but it really is a godsend," she said.

Sorensen says as the fleet grows, so will their ability to serve more people, including the homeless, disaster survivors and first responders.

As of now, he's available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.