LI Woman Who Lost Everything In Fire Gets New Home For Christmas

CALVERTON, NY — A woman who was left with nothing after a raging fire got a new home, moving in just in time for Christmas.

Just under two weeks after the blaze left Katie Polk with just the clothes on her back and her car, she was able to close on her new mobile home in the same community where she's lived for years.

"Words cannot express in my heart, thanks for all the love and support I received," Polk said. "It's like a constant river of God's love coming through everyone to me. Such a comfort and beauty. I have cried from the awesomeness and glory. I have a trillion thanks out there with hugs for everyone."

Polk said she is busy gathering all the things she needs for her new home; a new bed is coming Thursday.

The community opened its hearts to Polk, donating through a GoFund Me page to help.

"There are so many people to thank," she said. "The police, firemen, my family, who has put me up, neighbors, friends. My friend Dawn Madigan helped me find the home and made everything happen behind the scenes."

She added: "So many incredible people so touched my soul with stepping up and not even knowing me. What a Christmas story! I wish I could have everyone over — we'll see. God bless everyone and unbelievable thanks from the deepest depths of my heart."

The fire broke out recently at the Ramblewood Mobile Home Community, located on Sound Avenue in Calverton, ravaging her mobile home and taking the lives of her beloved cats.

A GoFundMe, "Katie Needs A New Home For Christmas" was created to help.

In a heartwarming update, Dawn Madigan, who created the page, wrote: "The big cleanup has almost been completed. Katie did not want the charred remains to be there for the holidays, so her beloved neighbors did not have to look at that another second."

She added: "I can’t say enough about Colucci Carting and Danny Watts and his fantastic guys for getting the job done so quickly. Thank you! And thank you for being so delicate and taking the time to get her very few items out that survived — her mom's plates that she loved, and a few photographs. Unfortunately, they also found the last missing kitty. Thank you for being so tender and kind in getting her back to Katie."

On a brighter note, there is hope on what was a bleak horizon. "We may actually get our wish for Katie to come true," Madigan said.

"We have found a mobile home that would allow her to stay in her community — and if all goes well, she may be in it by Christmas," she wrote a few days ibefore the closing on the home.

Madigan added: "Thank you to all of you for the amazing love and support in every way that you have contributed. Katie sends her heartfelt love and thanks, and feels so blessed to have all these friends, new and old."

While the home has been secured, Polk will need everything to begin again and furnish her new space, so the page is still collecting donations to help.

Mark Donnelly, second assistant chef at the Wading River Fire Department, said the call came in at 10:51 a.m.; Wading River Fire District paramedics were at the scene two minutes later and found the trailer "fully involved" in fire, he said.

"Unfortunately, there were multiple cats that perished in the fire," Donnelly said.

Polk was out at the time of the fire — a giving woman who dedicates her life to helping others, she was delivering clothes to a woman recently released from jail after 17 years and who is homeless.

Left with nothing, Polk thought not of herself, but of that woman.

"At least, her clothes were safe," she said.

Polk, however, was devastated by the loss of her beloved cats. The firefighters, she said, gently wrapped the cats' bodies and covered them. Later, Polk buried them at her brother's house.

Polk was concerned with coming back to the charred shell of what had once been her home, to make sure Bernie, a feral cat she feeds, was not left without his nightly meal.

But now, Polk said, her new home is peaceful. And, the feral cat, Bernie "already found me. He greeted me on Christmas Eve late at night in the driveway and this Christmas morning."

Polk, who works for Daughters of Wisdom convent in Sound Beach, has also been a puppeteer, the bright smile behind "Katie's Puppets," delighting children at libraries and across Long Island for more than 30 years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she was forced to shutter her business and took a nursing job. She had also fractured her leg during the pandemic, and has been unable to perform with her puppets for some time. Her "number-one puppet, Mr. Mouse," who played the harmonica, was lost in the flames.

After the fire Polk stood outside her home, trying to be strong despite the shock — wearing lipstick.

"My mother always said to make sure if anything happens, to have your lipstick on." She said she'd been able to purchase an outfit at Savers. "I'm very simple," she said. "I don't need much."

Searching through the rubble, the charred remains of her entire life, Polk was able to find some precious items including her mother's wedding rings, a rosary that survived — a treasured gift that had belonged to a neighbor's father— and a photo of Jesus, that was pristine and untouched, found in a blackened box.

A woman of great faith, Polk said she was able to withstand the loss of all of her material possessions. "It was the loss of my kitties that was the hardest," she said.

Despite the pain of all she's lost, Polk looks to the positive. "You have to look at all the blessings," she said. "The love I've experienced outweighs the loss," she said. The show of support and hope, she said, "feels like a Christmas story."

To donate to the GoFundMe, click here.

GoFundMe is a Patch promotional partner.