Metro

$10,000 from heaven for homeless SI woman

A Staten Island woman went from living in a homeless shelter to shopping for furniture after cashing in on a just-discovered $10,000 life-insurance policy that had been held by the state for more than 25 years, it was announced yesterday.

Penny Martin, a 46-year-old assistant cook at the Forever Young Senior Center on Staten Island, was staying in an Upper West Side shelter when she found out she was the beneficiary of the policy held by a boyfriend who died in 1985.

She heard about the money through a representative of state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s Unclaimed Funds Office, who visited the senior center last November.

The state’s fund is worth $10.5 billion.

DiNapoli, Martin and state Sen. Diane Savino (D-SI/Brooklyn) announced the boon at the center yesterday.

“It’s a great feeling that you are debt free and not owing anybody,” Martin said. “I had several bills. I paid them all. I bought a sofa, love seat, armoire — you name it.”