Contributed By Jo Weber, Director, Sonoma County Human Services Department
Two weeks before Christmas an amazing thing happened at seven o’clock on a Thursday morning. Twenty-one children from the Valley of the Moon Children’s Home accompanied by uniformed officers from the Santa Rosa Police Department descended on the Santa Rosa Target store, which was opened just for them. The children, who ranged in age from 5 to 17, each received a gift card worth $175 made possible by donations from Target and the SRPD officers and their families.

The police officers pushed shopping carts with the children’s gifts and Target employees rang up the purchases and wrapped them. Have you ever tried getting a teenager to wake up extra early? It’s not easy, but these children bounced out of bed excited about this special event.

Children are placed in foster care to protect them from abuse and neglect. Foster children often have negative perceptions of law enforcement since they may have experienced police removing them from their parents or even arresting family members. For many of these children this was the first time they perceived law enforcement in a positive light. One child fretted about what to wear that day, because this time when the police saw him he wanted to be looking proud. Seeing the number of officers who donated to the project and took time out of their day to be present made the kids feel important and valued.

Valley of the Moon Children’s Home serves more than 400 Sonoma County children each year and provides them with a safe and nurturing home during the difficult transition between removal from their home and finding a new place for them to live. The holidays can be an especially difficult time for these children. Years from now they will be able to look back on this joyful holiday experience and know how much the community truly cares about them. This can have a lasting effect on how they view their place in this world.

The Sonoma County Human Services Department is grateful to Santa Rosa Police Department and Target for putting together this wonderful event. It is an honor to work within a community that is so willing to help support the needs of vulnerable children.