Nashua Residents Seek Shelter from the Cold

"Here we are at Nashua High School. We have a Red Cross Shelter open for people that need a warm, safe place to stay."

That’s Doctor Donna Hastings, a psychologist and Red Cross volunteer with the local disaster team.

She was showing me around the shelter at Nashua South.

"As we’re looking down the hallway there are a number of tables set up. Some people are eating. Some people are putting together puzzles, talking, there are some games for children, and children have been coloring during the day."

Around 100 people came to the shelter last night. That’s double the number that were there Friday night.

In one of the high school’s large gyms, 200 cots were set up for people to spend the night.

When I was there, most of the shelter’s guests were down the hall watching a high school production of the play Inherit the Wind. The drama club had given everyone at the shelter free tickets to the show.

Some of those who remained were enjoying a hot meal courtesy of the Salvation Army and the high school’s cafeteria staff.

Kathy Briggs – a Nashua native – was catching up with a woman who had been her high school teacher 30 years ago.

Briggs came to the shelter to get a warm meal after toughing it out in her cold apartment for almost 24 hours.

"I got up on Friday, I had power, I went to work for 8 o’clock, when I came home at 5 o’clock I had nothing."

Briggs expressed a common frustration – she didn’t know how to get help when she lost electricity and was cut off from her usual sources of media.

"Like I said to the girl at the police station, you need to come around with a megaphone and say, ‘There’s a shelter in Hudson, There’s a shelter in Nashua.’

Irene Moldonado and her brothers found out about the shelter when their mother called the Merrimack police department.

"Our house, the electricity went off and it’s really, really cold."

"You could see your breath when you talk."

That was Irene’s brother Joel Moldonado.

They were watching an Eddie Murphy movie in one corner of the high school’s lobby.
Irene said she thought it would be weird to sleep at a high school, but Joel was excited.

"I think it will be awesome. No other people can sleep in a high school, but we do. "

"What did you miss doing the most without your power? "

"Being nice and warm."

"Hot water."

The shelter at Nashua South will remain open as long as local residents don’t have power.

Anyone heading over to the shelter is advised to bring blankets and a pillow.

And if you want to have a shower, you need soap and a towel.

For NHPR News, this is Suzanne Bates.