Building goodwill in Santa Rosa with food

Sgt. John Cregan, head of the Santa Rosa Police Department’s gang crimes team, rapped on the door of a rental unit on Aston Avenue, a trouble-plagued neighborhood that adjoins the back end of the Sonoma County Fairgrounds.

Most of the time police go there it’s because something’s gone wrong or someone’s in trouble, he said.

But on a sunny, 70-degree afternoon three days before Christmas, Cregan’s mission was entirely upbeat.

“Hi, how are you,” the uniformed cop said to the man who cautiously opened his door. “We have some food baskets from the city of Santa Rosa.”

Cregan handed over one of the 150 bags of food distributed by city employees on Monday, culminating the 11th annual food giveaway organized by the city’s Neighborhood Revitalization Program, targeting four low-income areas impacted by street gang activity.

“Very well, thank you,” Angel Pacheco said in Spanish, translated by Fabiola Espinosa of the city manager’s office.

Violet Lane-Basler, 5, handed Pacheco two candy canes for his kids.

At another Aston Avenue unit, Violet gave candy canes directly to Edith Avina’s three children, Jayleen, 4, Manuel, 7, wearing a brown monkey suit with stubby ears, and Jose, 11.

“Thank you so much,” Edith Avina said.

Violet, wearing a striped dress and blue tights, made the food-delivery rounds with her mother, Rebecca Lane, a city housing department program specialist. To augment the food bags, Violet culled toys from her room, including tiaras, bookmarks, a teddy bear and red heart-shaped wallet. “It even opens,” she said, shyly declining any other comment.

About 10 city workers from the police, fire, code enforcement and economic development and housing departments delivered food bags in the Aston Avenue, South Park, Sunset Avenue and West Ninth Street neighborhoods. City workers and unions contributed $3,100 to buy the food at a bargain rate from the Redwood Empire Food Bank, said Carmelita Howard, economic and housing development manager.

Each bag held “everything you’d need for a holiday meal,” she said, including canned and dry foods and a certificate for a fresh chicken from Lola’s Market.

Sheila Hernandez said the food would make a Christmas Day dinner for the four adults and a teen in her household.

“It feels good,” she said, standing on the front steps of her unit. “I love to see them here,” Hernandez said, referring to the police. “They do good.”

The euphoria was mutual.

“I love it,” said Marita Petersen, a fire inspector who was part of the yuletide food distribution for the first time.

Rafael Rivero, a community outreach specialist, said he and Mike Casey, assistant city attorney, delivered 40 food bags to West Ninth Street area residents and 30 more bags to people in South Park.

The Neighborhood Revitalization Program’s goal is to “improve the quality of life” in Santa Rosa’s less fortunate areas through “education and engagement,” Rivero said, along with building code enforcement to address substandard housing conditions.

Cregan, a six-year veteran of the gang crimes team, said it was “nice to be able to be there to bring a smile to people’s faces.” Building goodwill with residents pays off when it comes to dealing with crime in their neighborhood, he said.

“Definitely a rewarding experience,” Cregan said.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com.