Donations buy home for Joshua Tree family living in makeshift shelter

Friends of a family separated after police found them living in squalid conditions on their property in a remote part of Joshua Tree have raised enough money in one week to buy the family a home.

On Saturday, dozens of people – many who had never met the family – grabbed brooms, shovels, rakes, tree trimmers, sponges, mops and paint brushes and began cleaning the long-vacant house to make it ready for the family to move in.

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“I’m in shock” over the significant response, said Jackie Klear, who a week ago started a GoFundMe.com account to raise money for Daniel Panico, 73, and Mona Kirk, 51, and their three children.

In seven days, $50,000 – half of the $100,000 goal – has been raised via donations made through that GoFundMe page Klear of Yucca Valley set up.

Klear, who has known the family for 10 years, hoped to use the money to buy the Kirk-Panico family a house.

On Friday, the owner of a long-vacant two-bedroom home – a friend of Klear's – agreed to sell the home for $38,000, said Marsha Custodio, also a friend of Kirk and Panico.

“We want to show (Child Protective Services) that the family has an actual home to go to,” she said, as she stood in the living room. Around her, there was a flurry of work being done -- one person swept, while another worked to pull up the carpeting.

The goal is to have the house move-in ready before the Kirk and Panico return to court on Tuesday for a hearing regarding custody of their children.

The children -- two boys and a girl -- ages 11, 13 and 14, were placed with Child Protective Services and put into foster care when Panico and Kirk were arrested on Feb. 28.

Klear, who had all three kids in the Phoenix Scouts, a co-ed scouting group she led, said she knew the family didn't have much money, but she did not know how bad their living situation had become.

The family just lives in a trailer, Klear thought. She had not been on the property in a year.

The kids were involved in other activities like soccer and dance, and Kirk would do things like bring cookies and fudge to a Valentine’s Day party, Klear said.

“She is such a loving person, and she goes above and beyond,” Klear added.

Many of the possessions on the property where the family was living had been moved from storage units they could no longer afford. Now some of that stuff, like curtain rods and floor tiles, were being used to spruce up the new house.

“This is their home now. This is safe,” Custodio said.

The group is hopeful donations will continue coming in and the $100,000 goal is reached.

Money left over after the house is purchased will go toward utilities and property taxes, Custodio said.

“This is amazing. Amazing. We are so grateful,” said Kirk, standing in the garage with her husband, taking in all that was happening around them.

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The couple was arrested Feb. 28 on suspicion of child abuse after San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies reported finding the children living in substandard conditions on a trash-strewn lot Panico owns in the 7000 block of Sunfair Road.

Officials initially said the kids were living in a box but then corrected that to say they were found in a shelter made of plywood.

Klear and other friends of the family immediately rallied around the couple, saying the children were not abused, malnourished or neglected but the family had fallen on hard times.

Police said the property did not have running water or power and the family was without food.

Kirk said there was food and Klear and Custodio said they have photos showing there was running water and a working generator on the property, which they have provided to investigators working on the couple’s defense.

Beyond losing their children, “probably the most frustrating thing is all the inaccuracies,” Kirk said.

Panico and Kirk were initially held on $300,000 bail each until Tuesday when a judge ordered they be released pending trial.

They still haven’t seen their children but were told a visitation was being arranged, hopefully ahead of Tuesday’s hearing.

The house, situated about 8 miles east of where they had been living on Sunfair, has two bedrooms and a partially enclosed patio. Workers, on Saturday, were going to fully enclose the patio and turn it into a third bedroom for the couple's two boys, Custodio said.

Inside the house, Anica Korcha, 18, was sweeping the living room floor.

She, like many of the volunteers, is a member of Phoenix Scouts, a Yucca Valley-based scouting group for boys and girls started by Klear and whose membership includes Kirk and Panico’s children.

“I’m happy to be doing this,” she said. “It keeps me busy, plus I know it’s going to be a nice home for the family.”

Throughout the house, Saturday, there was friendly, light-hearted chatter and even a little singing as people of all ages worked. Outside in the yard, there were more people, who worked under a cloudy sky and light drizzle now and then.

Michelle Maresh, of Yucca Valley, was one of several working outside, raking the dead grass and weeds in the front yard.

Helping “is the right thing to do. It’s not a crime to be poor,” Maresh said.

There have been times when she’s needed a helping hand, “so I guess it’s paying it forward.”