ASHWAUBENON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Macht Village Programs, an organization that had a building destroyed by a fire last week, now has a new home.
Macht Village assists children and young adults with severe emotional and behavioral problems.
Smoke billowing over Interstate 41 just south of De Pere caught the eyes of many drivers headed to work and school last Thursday morning.
But for School Program Director Ben Hagel, the smoke was more than eye-catching. It impacted his workplace, Macht Village Programs.
“I immediately drove to the building and by the time I got there, the road was already blocked off and the fire trucks were all there and the building was on fire.”
Hagel says Macht Village got to work right away to find a new location. It took fewer than 10 hours to find its new building on Main Avenue in Ashwaubenon.
“This one felt like the best fit and, luckily, we were able to come to an agreement within a day, and then we had access to the building by Sunday already.”
Hagel said the organization was working so quickly to reopen, the new space was not ready for FOX 11’s camera on Tuesday.
“With our school program, we contract out with schools all over the area. We are a short-term program with kids trying to get them back to their natural school setting, so this is part of their plan — being with us and with them not having a plan in place, it makes it very difficult for them.”
Staff members say that although it has been a long and hard week, the support they have received from the community has been greatly appreciated.
“A lot of the turnout times for a lot of the furniture is weeks and months out, so we had such amazing outreach from all school districts all around us ones we worked with, ones we used to work with, offering up anything they can help us with,” says Hagel.
The program received enough donations to reopen on Wednesday — even without anything from the previous location.
“There were a couple bigger items that were toward the back end of things that we wanted to try to use, but we realized quickly they still reek of smoke and they are not going to be of use,” says Hagel.
Although the program is in a new space, Hagel says they hope to keep operations similar to before.
