Finding a place for the displaced

Sometimes, what children need most is love. Other times, it’s

discipline. But every once in a while, a child in need can use

someone who knows how to cut through red tape.

Newport Heights resident Don Krotee was able to come to the rescue

of 13 children whose San Diego County group home was destroyed in the

recent wildfires.

The adolescents of Phoenix Academy’s Descanso facility, which is a

one-year treatment program for drug and alcohol problems, got

shuffled around to several facilities after the wildfires destroyed

the place they called home.

Phoenix Academy’s Santa Ana facility offered the children shelter,

but state and local rules only allowed them to take in a few more

children -- not all 13.

Normally, it would take about a month to untangle the web of

bureaucracy required to get the approvals -- a month in which the

children had no place to stay.

Krotee, who found out about the situation through his Santa Ana

planning and architectural firm, had a strong suspicion he might be

able to help.

He toured the Santa Ana Phoenix House with the fire inspector,

using his architect’s eye to scrutinize the layout and design of the

place to make better use of the space.

“We went through and we found an underutilized conference room,

and it had a large enough area to house some of the kids,” Krotee

said, explaining that the restrictions centered mainly around fire

codes that designate how many people can occupy a space.

“Then we saw some reorganization in the mens’ and women’s

dormitories could allow to the others,” he said.

The quick response of Krotee and the fire marshals allowed the

children to get shelter in about a day instead of a month.

“We were able to adjust our program so that these kids could

receive treatment on a continuous basis,” said Winnie Wechsler,

executive director of Phoenix Houses, who credited all the state and

local agencies for their help in making that happen. “There was no

interruption of these kids’ treatment.”

-- June Casagrande