RANCHO CORDOVA, CA (MPG) - The spirit of the Christmas season drew all walks of life on the early morning hours of December 17, 2022, to run/walk at this year’s Police Activities League (PAL) Holiday Run in Rancho Cordova.

RCPD moved the traditional, athletic event’s start/finish line close to City Hall this year and featured the following run options for runners: a 1.2-mile Family Walk/Run, 5k Adult, 5k Youth, 10k Adult and a 10k Youth.

Racers participating in the holiday run received Santa hats, Sport Tek long sleeve shirts for the cool run and a commemorative race medal for the day.

RCPD Lieutenant Rich Merideth, president of the Police Activities League (PAL), observed with great enthusiasm, “This year’s PAL holiday run was a great success. We had our highest turnout to date with over 550 registered runners.”

The PAL run also operates as a Toy Drive helping to support Christmas in Cordova, a gifting, outreach program, which is premised on the slogan that “every child deserves to have a present to open at Christmas.”

Merideth highlighted the importance of the event for PAL and the 350 families with young people in need who were served during the holidays.

“This is such a great community event and every dollar that we earn goes right back into our kids here in Rancho Cordova,” said the lieutenant.

He said, preliminary numbers show that approximately $13,000 were brought in by the morning’s run.

Lieutenant Merideth thanked the community for participating in the occasion and “making generous donations to Christmas in Cordova!”

“Together, we made wishes come true for Rancho Cordova youth and families,” said Merideth. “We hope next year to attract even more runners and continue to grow this event as the years go by.”

According to RCPD, “Rancho Cordova PAL is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that builds relationships between RCPD and youth through a variety of programs, at no cost to the kids. Each year, the program serves more than 4,500 youth in our community.”