Cops & Gobblers stared in 1997 delivering food baskets for 15 families in need. Now, 20 years later, the program provides over 400 food baskets each year for families in need. The past several months, our community has been impacted by the devastating effects of COVID-19 and we immediately responded by expanding the program. As of July 2020, this program provided $50,000 in grocery food gift cards, helping over 1,000 local families in our city that are struggling during the ongoing pandemic.
As COVID-19 and the economic impact continues, low income community members will continue to experience significant challenges. Our partner organizations have identified several hundred families in our city that are struggling with food insecurity. Our local police department's Neighborhood Outreach unit identified 250 low income families and individuals currently residing in RV's and vehicles in Mountain View who directly benefit from grocery gift cards and use it for their basic food needs.
MVPD's Neighborhood Outreach Team sees firsthand that food supply and basic needs for low income families have been increasing on a regular basis since March 2020. Through their frequent contact and interactions, they can distribute the grocery food cards easily and directly to families that are in need. The program helps to meet the immediate food needs of family while also building trust, mutual respect and generates positive relationships between uniformed officers and our community members.
The long term goal of the program is to provide a $50 grocery gift card each month to 250 families for one year. It helps meet the ongoing basic needs while giving police officers a way to provide a little bit of assistance and good will to people that are in need. This program is unique and innovative because it provides an opportunity for officers to bridge the gap, provide something of value in a positive setting while building lasting trust. It's a great example of connecting community.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
