Staten Island . . . the good, the bad | From the editor

Hi Neighbor,

You might call us The Tale of Two Staten Islands.

There are times when we pull together. Tragedy has a way of making that happen.

There are times when we’re at cross purposes. Uncaring. Even belligerent.

On New Year’s Day, the tragic and horrifying loss of a young child in a house fire pulled us together.

Yet an incident during the little girl’s service at Matthew Funeral Home was a reminder of that other side of Staten Island. The crude side.

Seven-year-old Rory DeCristoforo died when fire that broke out late in the afternoon Jan. 1 in her Brookside Avenue home in West Brighton.

It was at Rory’s funeral Mass in Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Tompkinsville when the compassionate side, the sensitive side, of Staten Island became so clear.

“She completed our family of two boys and two girls,” her father, Mark, said in his eulogy. “A force of nature,” he called his little girl.

“We’re undoubtedly living a nightmare,” her dad told the packed church. “But in the midst of this nightmare we have witnessed so many miracles . . . so much love and support from the Staten Island community . . . and for that we are so grateful.”

“The Precious Life of Rory DeCristoforo,” the GoFundMe page reads. More than 8,200 people have donated to help the grieving family, giving more than $780,000.

It has been said people “throw” money at tragedy when it strikes, an effort to feel they have done something. Perhaps that is true. In so many cases, when we don’t know the people involved, when we don’t know what to do, this we can we do.

The tragedy of the DeCristoforo family goes beyond that.

Mark DeCristoforo is a force in the Staten Island community. Especially its youth community. He is football coach and athletic director at St. Peter’s Boys High School, where he touches hundreds of lives every year.

He makes a difference. The outpouring of support and love on his family’s devastating loss speaks to that.

When the funeral Mass ended, Staten…