Law Enforcers Honored For Mentoring Kids

Local law enforcers were honored for mentoring at-risk children during the PAL program’s award ceremony.

The event happened Wednesday at the Temecula . Officers, deputies, mentees and officials from the Safe Alternatives for Everyone organization filled dozens of chairs in the conference room.

Safe Alternatives for Everyone, or SAFE, is a Temecula-based nonprofit organization that shelters abused women and children from southwest Riverside County. SAFE runs the PAL program.

PAL stands for Police Activities League. The program gives children under the care of SAFE positive activities with law enforcer mentors.

“PAL is a program that goes to basics, and the basics are relationships,” said Melissa Donaldson, the executive director of the organization.

The officers and deputies take the children on mountain biking, kayaking and camping trips, teach them boxing, make art and other activities.

“They see you in a positive light. They see policemen differently than they might have otherwise,” Donaldson told the law enforcers.

With overcrowded prisons, programs like PAL are especially important because they stop children from becoming criminals, said Murrieta Mayor Randon Lane.

“You have worked very hard to create a positive perception in our youths’ minds,” he told the crowd of officials. “It’s nice to know we have programs like PAL to keep them out of that system.”

The day was the seventh anniversary of the beginning of the program, said sheriff’s Lt. Bill DeLuna.

“Tonight has a special meaning to me,” he said. He started the program with six deputies “working our butts off wondering if it would ever get off the ground,” he recalled.

“It’s a success story,” he said.

Click on the photo above to see a slideshow of the event.