Mountain View, Calif. (October 14, 2020) — Police Activities League Distributes School Supplies to Children in Mtn. View
The Mountain View Police Activities League, which supports youth through community partnerships, recently distributed backpacks, school supplies and Target gift cards to local students.
As students learn new ways to engage in schoolwork and activities online and at home, the Mountain View Police Department’s Youth Services Unit PAL team adapted to the challenges and created new ways to stay connected to kids. Through frequent call check-ins and Zoom, the PAL program has continued to foster relationships and trust between youth and MVPD officers.
The Mountain View Kiwanis Club donated 70 backpacks, school supplies and $7,000 worth of Target gift cards, enabling Youth Services officers and the PAL program to conduct outreach during the shelter-in-place orders.
The officers gave the students $25 gift cards and will continue to hand them out to families throughout the school year.
“We would like to thank the Kiwanis Club for providing our students with the backpacks, binders, school supplies and gift cards,” said MVPD Officer Thomas Low. “Our PAL kids and their families really appreciate all of the support they are receiving from their community. We were also very happy to see our kids smile and update us on how they were doing during our visits to their homes.”
MVPAL’s mission is to promote mutual understanding between youth and police officers through a non confrontational setting and divert them from gangs and criminal activity. To accomplish its goal, MVPAL offers a wide variety of recreational and leadership opportunities to kids between the ages of 5 and 18.
Providing recreation, education and other activities is not necessarily a function of a police department. However, with juvenile violence, gangs and other negative influences in the community, MVPAL introduces police to youth outreach programs with the aim to building mutual understanding and respect between police and youth to prevent crime, protect property and preserve a peaceful community.
The nonprofit Mountain View Public Safety Foundation supports the PAL program. To donate to the PAL program and for more information, visit mvpsf.org.