Cops Help Fulfill Holiday Wish Lists

Area kids were treated to a shopping spree Saturday with as part of the Shop With a Cop program.

The program, which aims to help needy families, was brought to Livermore two years ago by Pat Avilla, a vice principal at .

Avilla started the Livermore program after hearing about a similar program during a visit to Southern California.

This year, 14 students were teamed up with 11 off-duty police officers, who volunteered their time to participate in the program.

Here's a rundown of the day's events:

• Officers picked the kids up from home
• 60 members of the Granada band welcomed them at Walmart at 8 a.m.
• 20 leadership students from Granada helped the officers and students pick out gifts
• Each student was issued a $125 gift cards, and contributed more than 50 percent for the cards
• Teams shopped for an hour and a half
• Students were taken to breakfast at
• Students were then taken to the police station to wrap their gifts.

More photos can ve viewed here: http://photobucket.com/GHSShopWithACop.