By Craig Anderson

CAMDEN — Much appreciated community support continued to pour in during the days following a devastating fire that displaced a family of four early Tuesday.

A GoFundMe account for the Todd family (husband and wife Ben and Tammy, and daughters Madison and Makenzie) had raised $57,555 from 536 donors as of Saturday at 2:15 p.m.

The family was displaced after their home in the 200 block of Steeles Ridge Road sustained approximately $500,000 damage from the blaze, according to the Delaware State Fire Marshals Office.

Since then, the family has been boosted by a seemingly never-ending show of generosity and concern, Mr. Todd said Saturday.

“It’s been completely overwhelming,” he said. “You never think something like this will happen but when you receive this kind of community outreach. It speaks volumes about the kind of community you live in.

“Of course there’s your family and friends that will be there for you, but it’s coming from people we don’t know as well and that’s really quite humbling.”

On Friday, the Todd family posted a message to all on the GoFundMe page that read:

“The past few days have been an absolute whirlwind! The reality of what is ahead of us is overwhelming and we are taking small steps to get back to normal.

“We are still limited with our communication, so if you have reached out to us and we haven’t responded, we will do our best to. We could never have imagined the amazing support from our family, friends and the community, we are truly grateful.

“Love,

The Todds”

No injuries were reported in the blaze that took more than an hour to suppress, according to the Camden-Wyoming Fire Company (CWFC).

“My wife made a great point in saying that as horrific as the incident was there’s no imagining what it would be like if someone would have been lost,” Mr. Todd said. “The thought of facing that would have been completely unimaginable.”

The displaced family is now in the midst of moving into a friend’s home for now and looking for a rental property.

“It weighs on you mentally trying to figure out the next steps and not knowing when there will be some sense of normalcy,” Mr. Todd said.

Mr. Todd serves as Polytech High’s girls’ lacrosse coach. Athletic Director George Eilers said the entire school community was saddened by the situation and that “Ben is the heart and soul of Polytech and is the epitome of what we want our coaches here to represent.

“Everyone here loves him and will do what they can to help out in this situation.”

Mr. Todd will continue to coach the Panthers, who just began practice this week.

“I’m a firm believer that when the times are tough you have got to move forward and put one foot in front of the other,” Mr. Todd said.

“I talk to the kids on the team about being resilient and have to do that myself.”

Certainly his freshman daughter Madison is tough — she competed at the state championship track meet last week and set a Polytech school record in one event.

“The kids are taking it quite well actually,” he said. “The mental aspect for my wife and I is very difficult, however.”