After fire destroys her home, Long Island woman's history of kindness is repaid by community, and then some
CALVERTON, N.Y. -- From the ashes of a raging fire on Long Island came an outpouring of community kindness.
Days ago, the fire destroyed a Calverton woman's home, but neighbors say it's her kindness that has come full circle.
It took just minutes for a small fire in the home to erupt into an inferno, destroying all of Katie Polk's possessions and killing her six beloved cats.
Polk was out at the time donating Christmas gifts, when she got the devastating call from a neighbor at Ramblewood Mobile Home Park.
"She was crying. She said, 'Your place is on fire,'" Polk said.
Her home and pets were lost, but her community is rallying around her. A GoFundMe page has raised thousands to help her rebuild.
"Every single person has said, 'I have an extra room,'" Polk said. "The compassion ... you get to see people in a whole new light that you didn't know cared so much."
The community outpouring is goodness returned to someone who has doled it out for decades. Polk is well known in the area for her random acts of kindness, including rescuing animals, working at a convent as a nurse, and as a puppeteer.
"Her puppet shows for all the children all these years at schools and libraries ... she is just lightened up everyone's life. And she is one of these people that, she doesn't even know how special she is," friend Dawn Madigan said.
Friends call her a living angel.
"The most caring, giving person," neighbor Judy McCarthy said.
And this, they say, feels like a Christmas story.
"I should have a lightbulb on my head or something, a wreath around my neck," Polk said.
"The thing is, you're so happy. You know me. I have to dance," she added.
Who would have thought there would be dancing outside a destroyed home, but Polk found a music CD in the ashes and said she couldn't help but feel joy over kindness that has come full circle.
"The beauty of just people that I don't even know, coming up and the support, you're heart is so filled. It has been incredible," Polk said.
She is sad for what she lost, yet amazed at how much she has gained.
The cause of the fire, which appears to have started under the mobile home, is under investigation.
Colucci Carting as donated a dumpster for fire removal and a storage unit for what can be salvaged.