ShopRite shoppers and other Baltimore locals filled an MTA bus full of food and other non-perishable items faster than any year before, according to Mix 106.5 DJ Jon Boesche.

Boesche and fellow radio personality Maria Dennis were on hand at ShopRite Saturday evening thanking generous shoppers for donating to the 19th annual Stuff A Bus food drive for the Maryland Food Bank.

“I haven’t seen anything that denotes a recession or hard times. This bus has filled up quicker than any years past,” Boesche said, participating in his sixth Stuff A Bus event.

He was cut off by a woman wanting to say hello after contributing an entire grocery cart full of just-bought food items.

The woman handed six yellow bags to two Calvert Hall student-volunteers who struggled to make more room inside the already crammed bus (see photos). 

Dennis, a Mix 106.5 morning show host participating in her eighth food drive, said she was touched most by the parents teaching their children valuable lessons.

"It’s the parents telling their kids, ‘There are kids your age who cannot afford to eat what we eat,’ and asking them, ‘What do you think someone your age would like to eat for Thanksgiving or Christmas?’ So then the parents bring the kids inside to the store, shop and feel so proud of themselves that they are helping people. That, to me, is amazing,” she said.

There are more than 530,000 Maryland residents living below the federal poverty level, according to the Maryland Food Bank.

If you would like to donate to the Maryland Food Bank, simply click here.