Within hours of watching the home of a neighbor receive significant damage due to a fire, June Woolcock established a gofundme page for Paul Sarnik. Mr Sarnik was injured in the early morning blaze.here).Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue's Facebook page, the "fire started when embers from a fireplace caught a chair on fire. Resident tried to move chair outside and sustained burns to hands and smoke inhalation."[naviga:img class="aligncenter wp-image-300426" src="https://newtownbee.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/gofundme-launched-for-Paul-The-Can-Man-Sarnik-August-2015-SH-Bee-file-photo-WATERMARKED.jpg" alt="gofundme launched for Paul The Can Man Sarnik -- August 2015 SH Bee file photo WATERMARKED" width="500" height="750" /]Sandy Hook resident Paul Sarnik is shown in August 2015, after a fellow Sandy Hook resident gifted him with a child's stroller for his bicycle. Paul, who calls himself "The Can Man," has been collecting and returning bottles and cans from along the town's roadside for a  few years. A gofundme campaign has been launched for Mr Sarnik, whose hands were burned in a fire at his residence during the early hours of January 8.

"I would like to come together as a town and raise funds for someone who doesn't have very much," Ms Woolcock said in introducing the campaign, which was launched Monday morning.

Firefighters were dispatched to 5 Bungalow Terrace at 2:40 am Monday, January 8, after nearby residents began calling 911 to report a structure fully engulfed in flames. Sandy Hook Fire & Rescue Chief Bill Halstead was first on the scene, and confirmed the fire. All five of the town's companies and an ambulance crew were dispatched at that time (see related story

According to a post on

That resident was Mr Sarnik, who was transported to Bridgeport Hospital by Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps for treatment of his injuries.

Residents have been getting used to seeing Mr Sarnik regularly bicycling up and down Church Hill and Riverside roads. For a few years he has been picking up returnable cans and bottles found along the side of the road, and returning them for their deposits.

For a while Mr Sarnik was making do with overflowing garbage bags strung over each arm. A few summers ago, however, a Sandy Hook resident named Don gave Mr Sarnik a bicycle stroller - one that is designed to attach to the back of a bicycle.

"His children outgrew it, and he thought I could use it," Mr Sarnik said of the man he only knew by his first name, and the gift that made collecting his bottles and cans much easier. The habit led to the self-dubbed moniker "The Can Man."

As of 4 pm Monday, the fund for Mr Sarnik was trending. In five hours, 19 donors had offered $1,305 toward a posted goal of $5,000.

-Bee file photo