Soup's On and Cots Are Warm at the Suffield Emergency Shelter

When the Hurricane of 1938 swept through Suffield it caught residents off guard and left a tremendous amount of damage.

For Town Historian Lester Smith, looking at the pictures from more than 73 years ago reminded him an awful lot of what he saw Sunday after Winter Storm Alfred came through town.

“The amount of trees down, I see a great similarity between the two,” Smith said.

One property that he’s grateful was not damaged in this the storm is the beloved King House Museum.

“After a bad accident in June, during which a tree smashed the chimney, I was so happy to see that with this storm it was only branches that came down on the grounds,” Lester said.

Smith was one of dozens of people taking respite from the cold and charging his cell phone Sunday afternoon inside the Suffield High School cafeteria, which had been transformed into the town emergency shelter’s living room.

Volunteers rushed about trying to accommodate residents in need of a shower, medical attention or food. They came with pets, children or by themselves, looking for a warm meal and a place to relax.

“We’re here and we’re OK,” Patience Patchet said.

The Patchet family, including Patience’s husband Ted and sons Gavin, 11, and Colin, 8, were ready to hunker down at the shelter for as long as it took for the power to be restored. As of 11 p.m. Sunday about 96 percent of Suffield residents remained without electricity, according to the Connecticut Light & Power outage map.

As Colin shot hoops in the gym, Gavin worked on his social studies homework and Ted watched some of the Sunday afternoon football line up on a television in the SHS cafeteria. Down the hall, three of the family’s pets - Bloop the dart frog, Gordon Gekko the gecko, and Spike the cockatiel bird – were housed in the school’s Vo-Ag area to be kept warm and safe.

“We’re really lucky to have this place,” Ted Patchet said, crediting the town and the school personnel for keeping the shelter running.

Throughout the afternoon, shelter volunteer Tom Zera zipped around, bringing people snacks and organizing cots. He was working on five hours of sleep over the past two days and he said he’d remain at the shelter until power was restored.

“We want to make it as comfortable as possible,” Zera said.

The shelter is open to anyone in need, including animals (with a crate and a valid rabies certificate). There is food, coffee, and a place to charge electrical devices and medical personnel on hand. Some of the school offices and classrooms were transformed into family bedrooms because they were easier to heat than the vast gymnasium, according to Shelter Director Angelo DiMauro.

The shelter provided the cots, but people were encouraged to bring blankets, pillows, toiletries and towels from home, and other items that would make the experience more comfortable.

As of Sunday afternoon, more than 100 people had used the shelter’s services, with many more expected over the coming days as the temperatures at night dip into the 20s. Those there for Sunday lunch were treated to tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches served up by volunteer cooks.

About five volunteers run the operation and DiMauro said more are welcome. One of his main concerns is that those who are currently volunteering will burn out before all the needs are met.

Smith said the hospitality extended to residents was priceless, although he did not plan on staying at the shelter Sunday night. Fortunate to be on the town’s water system, Lester said he can stand the fact that it will be cold water until the power comes back.

When he woke up Sunday morning his house was 52ºF, but it’s nothing he’s worried about; he’s camped out with the Boy Scouts in similar weather to what’s predicted over the coming days.

What does concern him is that the weather will turn too warm for him to continue to use his front porch as his outdoor refrigerator before the power comes back so he can use his real fridge.

“Aside from that I’ll make due,” Smith said.