A Close-Up Look At People Who Matter : Children Have a Friend in Charitable Cop

Making promises doesn’t come easy to LAPD Deputy Chief Mark Kroeker.

The Newhall resident remembers making only three. The first came on his wedding day, the second on the day he joined the Los Angeles Police Department. The third was made when a grieving but thankful mom, in the midst of transporting the body of her 11-year-old daughter home to Argentina, pleaded with him to continue his work and help other children get the organ transplants they desperately need.

“Promise me, you’ll do it for Veronica. Make her death mean something,” she implored.

The 30-year veteran, who commands the LAPD’s South Bureau, says he was so moved by the mother’s spirit that he agreed. He credits that commitment and the remarkable courage Veronica showed in fighting a battle she eventually lost for the inspiration to start the Encino-based World Children’s Transplant Fund.

In many ways, the failed effort to save Veronica showed Kroeker how to move the dream forward. That journey began in Argentina, when Kroeker met the young girl on a business trip. With the help of a lot of committed people in Texas, California and Canada, Kroeker managed to raise $100,000 and get enough in-kind donations to pay for travel, housing and three transplant operations for Veronica. But the experience also taught him that this was not the most efficient operating plan.

Five years and approximately $1 million later, Kroeker and the WCTF he founded are still growing. A board of directors has signed on. Plans are under way to establish WCTF groups in Mexico, the Czech Republic, Colombia and Armenia. The organization already has centers in Los Angeles, Argentina, Costa Rica and Russia.

“We started out just raising money for transplant operations,” Kroeker says. “Now, our strategy is focused on establishing centers, based on the three Ts: training, technology and teaching.”

Since the group has developed the new philosophy, it has become impossible to count the number of children who have been helped.

WCTF tailors its centers to the needs of its service area. This means one location may focus on new training in transplant techniques for doctors, while another may raise money to buy new high-tech equipment.

“That’s just fine with me, because this effort isn’t about claiming credit for helping X amount of children,” Kroeker says. “It’s about giving people the help they need to heal these children.”

WCTF has also focused its energy on teaching and publicizing the importance of organ donations. Companies like Gannett and Patrick Media helped by donating billboards and art direction. Celebrities such as Lorenzo Lamas, Mark Spitz and Bobby Unser also donated their time.

If all this charitable work and self-effacing talk by Kroeker sounds strange for a cop, friends and associates say it’s not. “He’s a good cop and a genuinely good person who just has a great commitment to helping people,” says screenwriter-journalist Michael Graham.

“I don’t think anyone who knows Mark thinks this work is unusual for him,” says Rabbi Gary Greenebaum, president of the Los Angeles Police Commission. Greenebaum is helping organize the WCTF annual fund-raising dinner, scheduled for Wednesday at the Biltmore Hotel.

Brad Boeckmann from Galpin Motors, a WCTF board member, said he got involved with Kroeker’s group a year and a half ago “because Mark and I are friends and I wanted to help kids. Anyone who knows Mark knows he’s deeply committed to helping people.”

Kroeker comes from a background of public service. His parents were Mennonite missionaries, and he spent his first nine years in Africa.

Kroeker emphasizes that the focus must remain on the children. “This began because I was inspired by Veronica, and in many ways I still am.”

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