Shelter A Home Away From Home

At its peak, the emergency shelter at McGee Middle School, housed 32 people overnight.

With power coming back sporadically, the number has come down but there were still between 15 and 17 people at the shelter.

According to Director of Social Services Antoinette Pajor, the shelter will stay open until at least Friday at 2 p.m.

Not counting today, the shelter has served 500 meals. This morning there were 75 breakfasts and 95 lunches and Pajor expected 125 to 130 for dinner.

"A lot of people will come for the three hot meals, warm up and then go back home for a while," Pajor said. "During lunch, we are getting moms with their kids or dads with kids and they usually come back again for dinner."

Town Manager Denise McNair said, "There is frustration but we are a lot less worse off than a lot of towns."

Berlin Mayor Adam Salina added, "We were on a conference call with Jeff Butler from CL&P and Gov. Malloy today and we had a checklist of things we were going to ask about and ask for. Then we started to hear about some of the other towns and what they were going through. Needless to say, we didn't talk very much. To hear how bad it is in Simsbury, Avon and Farmington is amazing."

McNair said that the Berlin emergency shelter is a little different than most in that there is a nurse there 24 hours a day.

"We might need some help so if there are any nurses out there who might be able to donate some time, they should contact me at (860) 828-7003," she said. "Some shelters don’t have a nurse or emergency personnel but we think it is important."

Pajor said that she is unsure how long the shelter will stay open.

"We will be open until 2 p.m. on Friday but after that we will either shut it down or we will stay open for another overnight," she said. "I think we'll have someone from Hunter's Ambulance but if there is a nurse available they can contact the Town Manager. If we stay open, we could also use some volunteers on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. If people want to volunteer, they can call the Manager until tomorrow at her office phone. Once we get to the weekend, we may have to figure something else out."

Pajor, who stowed away Thursday at Berlin Peck Library trying to help residents on a deadline to file Medicare Part D, said she has never seen anything like this situation.

"The length of time is what makes it unusual," she said. "We are going on six nights and we may have to go longer," she said.

Salina says the town has done a good job handling the disaster.

"The Café staff at McGee School and the visiting nurses at the shelter have been outstanding," he said. "Alice Mitchell coordinated some UpBeat members to volunteer as well. Things slow down at times over there but then at mealtime, it's a packed house. It is going slowly and people rightly don't want to hear it but it is progressing. It's not perfect but we keep working at it."