A Long Island mother who lost her FDNY husband wept at a latest Islanders sport when the staff and Tunnel To Towers touchingly revealed they paid off her mortgage and were protecting her twins’ school tuition.

“The mortgage alone is life-changing,” said Hope McHale, 57, of Manhasset to The Post. 

Long Island mother Hope McHale (heart( and her children.

“The college thing is, I mean — there are no words,” she added. “There’s so much pressure off.”

McHale lost her husband, Fire Marshal Martin “Woody” McHale, on Christmas Eve 2012 when he suffered a coronary heart attack while driving residence and crashed into a neighbor’s home after a shift.

The dad, also a 9/11 responder who helped work the Ground Zero morgue, handed away when their two boys, Manhasset High School seniors Matthew and Ryan, were under 4 years outdated. 

Tunnel to Towers pays for Hope McHale’s (heart left) mortgage during a sport against the Tampa Bay Lightning at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, Saturday, October 10, 2026. New York Islanders

“Woody and I struggled to have children, and we had children late in life,” said McHale, now a single mother.

“They were definitely his prized possession – and [their birth] was definitely his proudest moment. He was just so happy to be a dad. He was such a good dad to my children.”

After her husband’s demise, McHale and the children moved from Bayside, Queens, to Long Island in 2014, fulfilling Woody’s last want.

Fire Marshal Martin “Woody” McHale suffered a coronary heart attack while driving residence and crashed into a neighbor’s home after a shift.

“This is a place that he wanted to raise our family,” said McHale, who works in gross sales for Ralph Lauren.

Woody was also honored at the Long Island hockey staff’s Oct. 10 sport against the Lightning by having his face gentle up the Jumbotron at UBS Arena, to the roar of hundreds.

McHale and her boys were handled like Islanders royalty at the occasion and spent the night in the proprietor’s suite alongside with staff co-owner Jon Ledecky, who was emotional in serving to the deserving mother.

“Here’s somebody making their way through life, and now they get this big assist,” Ledecky advised The Post.

“And to put that love to work by raising these two kids alone as a single mom, it’s pretty incredible. … They’re terrific kids who are going to have great careers.”

Hope McHale (proper) and Martin “Woody” McHale (left).

Matthew has already been accepted to the prestigious flight college Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, while Ryan is in Fairfield University in Connecticut, where Ledecky has already put in a good phrase with his contacts.

The Islanders also raised $34,000 in 50-50 raffle proceeds for Tunnel to Towers that night.

“I felt kind of like it was a hat trick,” the proprietor said, referring to all the goodwill.