SHERIFF'S DEPUTIES TEACH DRUG, GANG PREVENTION AT THE KIDS CAFE

Children Get The Opportunity To Meet Friends, Play Games In Safe Setting

With the stresses of growing up in any city, sometimes children just need a
place to be themselves, feel safe, have fun, learn something new and eat a
nutritious meal.

In Nueces County, the Fighting to Rid Gangs in America Foundation is
offering that safe haven to at-risk children. The Nueces County Sheriff's
Department, with the help of the Coastal Bend Food Bank, is offering the
food and the lessons.

Any day of the week deputies from the Sheriff's Department can be found at
the Archbishop Oscar Romero Junior High building on 19th Street, teaching
about 50 children how to stay out of gangs, off drugs and away from
tobacco. They also are usually around when the kids are given a daily
snack, which is for some the most nutritious meal they get all day. They've
nicknamed that part of the program the Kids Cafe.

Sheriff Larry Olivarez said he started the Kids Cafe because he remembers
what it was like to be young and hungry.

"I remember when I was in the barrio," Olivarez said. "We were always
hungry. We would go to the recreation center and sometimes that was all we
got for lunch."

Community involvement is something that Olivarez said he stresses to his
deputies.

"Community policing is not a new concept. It is about getting out. It is
about people," he said. "I tell my officers you might not be rich but you
can give yourself."

Concerns about the future Some of the many programs that the Sheriff's
Department offers the children at the recreation center and around the
county are tobacco awareness, gang awareness and drug safety.

"We're big into prevention, trying to get to problems before they start,"
said Sgt. James Grima. "And to clear up some of the stereotypes about law
enforcement. We are concerned for their future, not just when they are
gang-banging, but now."

Grima, who is a member of the Sheriff's Department's Community Services and
has been volunteering his time to children in the county for more than 10
years, said that it's important to show kids that law enforcement officers
are human and they care.

Deputy Shanna Shelly agrees that stereotypes about law enforcement officers
can be misleading. The center, she said, shows the children that officers
are people, too.

Community policing "We become human to them, not just a badge and a gun,"
she said.

Shelly said she got involved in community services because she loves the
kids and the work offers her some insights.

"I have two children of my own," she said. "It kind of gives me insight to
what they are going to face. I think we need to focus on intervention."

Shelly said that the recreation center also gives some of the children who
attend a family setting where they can meet friends, eat and play.

'Well-rounded program' "If they have a problem, they know they can tell one
of the counselors and we will be here for them," she said.

"This is a really well-rounded program."

Belissa Perea, 7, said she likes the programs offered at the center, which
she attends in the afternoon.

"I get to play in the gym and do art," she said.

Crystal Carpio, 9, said that when she first started going to the Kids Cafe
she didn't think she would like it, but soon changed her mind. Crystal,
like several of the children, said she feels safe at the center.

"I started to make friends," she said. "The lady officer is a friend. She
tells us not to do things that we are not suppose to be doing, like drugs,
when we grow up."