FULLERTON : Families on Street Make Up His Beat

Capt. Lee R. DeVore had been a police officer for more than 20 years when he began noticing that the homeless people he was seeing were no longer mostly middle-aged, alcoholic men.

Increasingly, he realized, they were families with young children--on the street with nowhere to go.

So in 1984, he approached Fran Lundquist, founder of the Sheepfold shelters for homeless women with children, with an offer.

“I told Fran that if they could use some help finding another house, I have some expertise and I could help out,” said DeVore, head of the Fullerton Police Department’s detective division.

Today, DeVore, 47, has used his knowledge of real estate to help the Sheepfold double the number of its shelters from two to four and is helping the group’s effort to start a day-care center so homeless women with children can work or attend school.

“He’s a wonderful person,” Lundquist said. “He helps us with all of our real-estate transactions and questions. He negotiates the purchase and escrow process for us and he’s also such a spiritual help.”

Lundquist founded the Tustin-based Sheepfold in 1979 to provide long-term housing, which allows women to save enough money to rent an apartment of their own, she said.

Sheepfold has sheltered 5,000 women and children in the past 10 years.

“There’s a tremendous need for this,” DeVore said. “If we had four more shelters, we could fill them today.”

DeVore’s current project is to work with local colleges, finding financial aid for women who want to return to school. The women need an education to go beyond minimum-wage jobs, he said.

“Education can really change their prospects in life,” he said. “Many of these women are very intelligent. They just never have had the opportunity.”

Last year, DeVore was named vice president of Sheepfold’s board of directors.

“You can imagine how busy he would be as a captain at the Police Department,” Lundquist said. “But he’s never rushed and he’s on top of every detail.”

“It’s been rewarding,” DeVore said. “I wouldn’t trade the experience for any money.”