Community Corner

'Inspiration for Ingrid': Donations Soar for Woman Hurt in Fire

A Newtown resident has been hospitalized and lost many of her belongings in a fire, but her neighbors are giving back.

To donate to Ingrid, visit the GoFundMe page established by her niece or drop by the Pizza Palace at 65 Church Hill Road.

Newtown resident Ingrid Bergquist has been in the Intensive Care Unit at Danbury Hospital since Sunday, when a fire broke out at her house on The Boulevard. Police and firefighters rescued her from the blaze, but she suffered from smoke and carbon monoxide inhalation.

She is expected to make a full recovery — but family members worry she lost virtually everything in the fire. So Newtown neighbors have responded in kind -- with kindness.

An online fundraiser started by niece Ashley Pratt Neumann is hoping to back up on her feet. Just two days after the fundraiser began, it's more than halfway to its goal, with $5,613 out of $10,000 raised.

Owners of The Pizza Palace on Church Hill, where Ingrid is a regular customer, are also helping out, taking donations of gift cards, clothing, shoes and everyday necessities. On Wednesday, they set up a donation box under the restaurant's Christmas Tree.

As of Tuesday night, Ingrid was still in the ICU, Neumann wrote.

"The amazing nurses and doctors at Danbury Hospital want to keep her a little bit longer because of the fever she had earlier in the day," she wrote. "I personally think they just want to keep her because she's such a character to have around though… :-) Please keep those prayers coming!"

(Newtown Patch featured the fundraiser in our '5 Neighbors Who Need Your Help' profile Tuesday.)


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