Kristen Brinkman only had enough time to grab her laptop, wallet, keys and dog and escape her Fishtown home before it was engulfed in flames.
After an Aug. 27 fire claimed nearly all of her possessions, friends of the Stonewall Sports member and LGBT ally are rallying to her aid. Friend and fellow league member Derek Hartman has started a crowd-funding page for Brinkman (https://www.gofundme.com/2mdz4rgg), which, as of presstime, has generated about half of its $5,000 goal. Stonewall kickball teammates will also be selling 50/50 and raffle tickets, with proceeds going to Brinkman, from noon-4 p.m. Sept. 11 at Marconi Plaza and also from 3-7 p.m. that evening at Boxers, where the winners will be announced.
Brinkman has played kickball and dodgeball for the LGBT-centric league for the past several years. She said the support from the league and other friends since the fire has been overwhelming.
“I’m shocked and I’m humbled,” Brinkman said. “I usually am very independent and don’t like to take things from anyone else but I’m learning when people are offering things of their own free will because they care about you, to just be grateful and accept help. It sounds kind of lame, but I feel blessed to have so many people who care and who are concerned about me.”
Brinkman was relaxing on her couch in the Fishtown home she rented for the last five years when her smoke alarm went off. She said the alarm often was set off by the rising heat in the trinity-style house, so she wasn’t overly concerned until a friend who was staying with her began screaming from her upstairs bedroom.
The pair tried to smother the flames, attempted to throw water on the fire and tried to douse burning objects in the shower, where Brinkman burned her hand, but to no avail.
“It was eventually clear there was nothing we could do to slow it down or stop it,” she said.
They ran out of the house with Brinkman’s dog, but her friend’s cat, who they think was hiding under a bed where the fire was raging, perished. The fire was contained within a few minutes, and Brinkman said investigators had yet to determine a conclusive cause earlier this week.
When Brinkman was finally allowed back in days later for a walk-through, all that was salvageable were a few pots and pans.
“It was a million times worse than I thought it was, a total loss,” she said. “TVs, electronics, furniture, clothing, everything.”
The Red Cross provided Brinkman a $125 gift card and she stayed for a time with a friend in Northeast Pennsylvania. She’s in the process of looking for a new home in Fishtown and will be staying at a hotel for the coming weeks.
When Hartman heard about Brinkman’s situation, he said he felt compelled to help. The pair met at Shippensburg University and reconnected after college. Hartman said he had come out in the intervening time and pushed away many friends because of it, with whom Brinkman helped him reconcile.
“I ran into Kristen at a concert about five years after I graduated college, and she kind of pulled me back into reconnecting with friends that I was afraid to talk to after I came out,” Hartman said. “She really bridged that gap for me and helped me rebuild those relationships. She took me from a place of barely accepting myself to showing me that everyone accepted me, and I really credit her for that part of my coming out.”
Hartman said he knew Brinkman wouldn’t be one to ask for assistance, which prompted him to create the GoFundMe page.
“She was so grateful,” he said. “I’ve been updating her on the donations and that Stonewall shared the page and she was just overwhelmed. She’s been very, very touched by the community, by Stonewall and just the kindness in general from people, some she barely even knew who’ve donated and reached out to her.”
Brinkman said one positive that has come from the situation is that she’s been able to educate supporters about the importance of renter’s insurance, which she fortunately has.
“Please, please, please get renter’s insurance,” she said. “Waiting for everything [from the insurance company] is hard but at least there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. I can’t imagine if I didn’t have the insurance or didn’t have the support I do; I’m just so humbled, and feel so lucky that people care enough to do this.”