For many residents at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, the annual visiting event organized by Get on the Bus once again came through to deliver, safely and soundly, their loved ones for a visit. This year, GotB featured a special treat that turned into the event’s big talking point: bacon for breakfast.

GotB has provided transportation from Southern California and from the Sacramento area to San Quentin and to 12 other institutions for 26 years. Originally started by the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the Center for Restorative Justice Works has since sponsored the all-expenses-paid events. CRJW, based in in Montebello, Calif., has collaborated with religious organizations in the Bay Area for the visit to SQRC.

“We don’t get bacon here, and I don’t have the luxury to sit down with my daughters and my wife to have a good, wholesome breakfast with bacon and real orange juice,” said resident Raymundo Rivera, 43. “This means a lot more than a meal from a vending machine. I got to tease my little one about the bacon: I thought I like bacon, but she really likes bacon.” Rivera’s daughters, aged 14 and 27, looked happy.

For other families, too, the bacon had turned into the conversation of the day. “Two steps from heaven,” said resident Ernest Blackwell, 40, about the bacon. “I have been down for 10 years, and I have not had skillet-fried bacon in all that time. It made me feel like I was home having breakfast with my family. They looked so excited to see me.”

The bacon came to SQRC in a roundabout way. Usually, San Sebastian Church in nearby Kentfield, Calif., would serve breakfast to the visiting families at its facility, but this year, heavy traffic delayed one of the buses. One of the volunteers said, “If we had eaten breakfast at the church, we would not have arrived here for until much later, so we asked San Quentin if we could bring breakfast here, and they said Yes.”

Besides serving breakfast, the 2025 Get on the Bus event accomplished other improvements. Most importantly for the organization, the San Quentin event had greater attendance. “We served 141 participants this year, which includes 35 residents,” said Josue Avalos, one of the organizers. Avalos said the service has room for more visitors; the organization would like to receive more applications from San Quentin residents.

Another improvement made a big difference to residents with small children. Every year, GotB would give teddy bears to children. In the past, the children received the bears at the end, after boarding the bus home. This year, Lt. Haub’s California Model Resource Team received the bears at SQRC in advance for security clearance so that residents could give them to their children themselves. 

Avalos said he had thanked Lt. Haub for his efforts.

“This is such a trivial favor San Quentin did, but it made such a huge difference,” said Jennifer H., a CRJW volunteer.

Warden Chance Andes also expressed his pleasure with the positive changes at this year’s event. “We have done much better with [entry] processing for visitors, and this year, we processed more visitors in a shorter time than last year. That means staff performance is improving,” said Andes.

Chief Deputy Warden Rosales said she wished something like GotB had existed during her college days; she attended college in Cambridge, Mass., too far for her family to visit. She called the event the fulfillment of the “Heart, Soul, and Mission” of San Quentin.

SQRC’s Community Resources Manager M. Barragan and his staff looked on as the event progressed. He said he also felt pleased with streamlining of event bureaucracy accomplished by his office. CRM Office Technician A. Torres said, “This is one of my favorite events here, I love it.”

Resident Gregory Starling’s family included his son Keenan, 17, and his daughter Sherisha, 29. “Daddy!” said Sherisha at first sight of his father. She later said, “I was just so happy to see him.” 

As the visiting room announced that the event would close in fifteen minutes, some frowns appeared on the faces of the visitors and the residents alike. Good-byes looked tearful and seemed hard to watch. Residents said They looked forward to next year’s Get on the Bus.

“I don’t wanna go,” said one sad-faced little girl, but her father put a positive spin on the departure by handing her the teddy bear. She hugged the bear and her father hugged her.