By Lindsay Tice,Staff Writer

AUBURN – The calls started before Lisa Fortier woke up Tuesday.

A woman offered to lend Fortier her house so the single mother would have a tree and a place to celebrate with her three children on Christmas day.

A man passed a couple of “For Rent” signs on Court Street and wanted Fortier to know right away.

A former neighbor had no money and no home to offer, but he had muscles and a truck to help her move.

“People’s concern just means so much,” Fortier said. “It was a wonderful way to wake up.”

Earlier this month, Fortier, 34, learned that she and two other tenants were being evicted from their 985 Turner St. apartment building to make way for an expansion of the Auburn Mall by developer George Schott. She got the news when she came home from work and found her house spay-painted for demolition. A few days later, she awoke to crews tearing down trees and her children’s playground equipment.

Schott said Fortier should have been notified before the building was marked and the yard cleared, but the demolition companies moved more quickly than expected.

She was given 60 days to get out, with a deadline of Feb. 8. Legally, she can stay until then, but Fortier said she was asked to leave in 30 days, or by early January

Her plight was featured in the Sun Journal on Tuesday. Fortier’s phone began to ring just hours after the papers hit doorsteps.

“It’s Christmas. We’re supposed to look out for each other at Christmas,” said Nora Morris, the first caller. She offered to let Fortier use her Auburn house, complete with Christmas tree, so Tyler, 15, Gabriel, 7, and Victoria, 3, could unwrap presents in a festive place. When Fortier said the kids wouldn’t really have any gifts this year, Morris offered to go buy some.

By midafternoon, Fortier had multiple offers of Christmas presents, moving trucks and money. Several people called with possible apartments.

Robert Moldaver owns buildings in Portland and Lewiston. He called Fortier about a Lewiston apartment just as she was searching for a pair of For Rent signs in Auburn – a tip from a morning caller.

Moldaver was furious that any landlord would evict a tenant at this time of year.

“There’s just no excuse for what’s happening to these people,” he said. “When this happens, it doesn’t help any of the good landlords.”

Donald Murphy and his wife, Debra, of Litchfield, were struck by Fortier’s story and by the photo of young Gabriel holding up a sign begging for help.

“That little boy. Jeez, that little blonde boy. He looked so sad,” Donald Murphy said.

Murphy and his wife immediately offered to rent a moving truck for the family and buy Christmas presents. They started a relief fund through the Community Credit Union.

“Ten dollars here, $20 there. Maybe that’ll be enough for a (housing) deposit,” he said.

All of the attention stunned Fortier, who works as an information associate with Central Maine Medical Center’s oncology department. She hoped for help, she said, but she never thought so much would come so fast.

“I was like, God bless you,'” she said.