The local community of a 6-year-old Staten Island girl killed in a house fire on New Year’s Day is coming together to support her family amid the tragic loss — raising hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Little Rory DeCristoforo died in the blaze that began in a bedroom on the second floor of her family’s two-story home in the Castleton Corners neighborhood shortly after 5:30 p.m.
Community members and strangers heartbroken by her death raised more than $500,000 for the grieving family by the end of Tuesday — with dozens of people contributing $1,000 or more in single donations. A generous few even offered $5,000.
Several of the donations came from local businesses and youth sports teams and leagues, like the Snug Harbor Little League and Next Level Sports.
Rory’s father Mark DeCristoforo is well-known across the island for his work as the athletic director and head football coach at St. Peter’s Boys High School, where he also works as a math teacher.
The grade-schooler — described as a “dark-haired, blue-eyed beauty with a playful, loving spirit” in a GoFundMe campaign — was the youngest of Mark and Meg DeCristoforo’s four children.
“The lively baby of the family. She looked up to her 3 older siblings, Kali, Bubba, and Shane, and stole a piece of each of their hearts,” the fundraising campaign organizer Robert Chi wrote.
Mark’s employer, the high school and its combined parish of Our Lady of Good Counsel, St. Peter-St. Paul and Assumption, has also stepped up, offering to cover the cost of Rory’s funeral and burial, the president of St. Peter’s John Fodera told the Staten Island Advance.
“I can’t fathom how a parent handles something like this. It’s unimaginable,” Fodera told the local paper.
He also said that the school will provide catered food for the family for weeks.
“I’ve told Mark no matter what he needs or what he asks for, the St. Peter’s community will be there for him,” Fodera said.
The school president hired the father of four himself, first as a math teacher, and watched him grow and inspire kids through the years both in the classroom and on the field as the varsity football coach, a gig he has held for the past 10 years, the Advance reported.
“He’s played so many roles at St. Peter’s and in every one of those roles he has truly made an impact on the school and on the kids,” Fodera told the publication. “Kids flock around him and respect him highly for everything that he represents. He’s a person who gains your respect the minute you speak to him.”
The family also lost their home in the fire which left it uninhabitable and is currently staying with relatives, according to Mark’s boss.
The DeCristoforos had recently moved into the house to help care for Mark’s aging parents, who live there. It was undergoing renovations to accommodate the large family permanently, Fodera said.
Less than two months ago, the family lost another loved one. Mark’s mother Jane passed away at 80 on November 11, the Advance reported.
The FDNY is investigating the cause of the fatal fire.
Neighbors told the New York Daily News that they saw firefighters break through a window into Rory’s room and carry her out of the burning building down a ladder.
“They carried her into the ambulance and were working on her. Then they took her away,” Rick Benevento, 78, told the outlet.
He also saw her father in agony as smoke-eaters worked to put out the blaze.
“Mark came out in his shorts with his shoes off. He was on the ground pounding. Then he was on my lawn, just devastated,” he said.
No others were injured in the fire.
