Power lines covered in ice as viewed from the second floor of the General Store the morning after the ice storm. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)

During the Dec. 11 ice storm, Harvard’s citizens “stepped up to the plate; they were responsive and responsible, and that is the extraordinary thing that happened during this emergency,” said Adam Horowitz, proprietor of the General Store, earlier this week. “It was a great privilege to be here.”

The General Store, along with the emergency shelter at Bromfield School, became an important center for residents in the days following the storm. First, though, Horowitz had to deal with the initial power loss. In terms of physical and economic risk, “preservation of the infrastructure of the building was the priority,” he said. “The building has old piping and not much in the way of insulation, so cooling to the point where the pipes might freeze was the major concern. Concern about loss of perishable items came second.”

Protecting the building’s infrastructure and perishables required an alternative power source. Horowitz was in Leominster in search of a generator when he received a call from Dan Justicz of Woodside Road, who was looking for power equipment at Toreku Tractor in Ayer. Justicz knew that the General Store needed power and had spotted a diesel generator. He immediately called Horowitz, who went directly to Toreku Tractor and purchased the generator, which then served until power was restored by National Grid.

In terms of other systems at the General Store, a significant disruption was the loss of computerized data files during storm-related events. The loss will take some time to recover from, said Horowitz.

“It’s a time to give gifts, and our proprietary card, which is based on a merchant service on some server somewhere in the ether, wasn’t there to play the role this season,” he said. “Credit cards and debit cards don’t worry me, but the fact that I can’t process a General Store gift card breaks my heart.”

He also noted that “we have an IOU system going until the transaction system comes back. We realized that as we started to stabilize, people were rushing toward stability too. Maybe they didn’t have a credit card or a check. We just took names, telephone numbers, and the amount. The IOU won’t continue forever, but under the circumstances, in terms of getting everyone resettled, it was a natural thing to do. It’s called adaptation.”

Horowitz also commented on communications and reliance on cell phones: “We’ve had people come in to power up cell phones and use the store’s wi-fi connection. We designed the store for that, people made use of it, and we are delighted to provide that service.”

Dan Walsh, Justin Miller, and Jane Thompson, who work at the store, checked in on Friday and helped move frozen goods and perishables into backup freezers and refrigerators downstairs.

Thompson also liaised with the emergency shelter at Bromfield and connected with other organizations in town. Because of Thompson’s efforts, the General Store was able to donate newspapers to the shelter at Bromfield. Bonnie Sweeney, who also works at the General Store, took milk and other perishables to Harvard’s EMT unit. Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry at Devens also shared many of the store’s perishables.

Horowitz commented that, in his opinion, “this emergency is about the people of Harvard coming together as a community” to help one another and to help those who were helping them. “Our network was amazing … all of them checked in with us. Jane didn’t leave the store. We are eternally grateful to her.” He said that “people like Jane and Dan stimulate a sense of responsibility that spirals and has a very positive effect.”

Horowitz also cited the example of the Harvard schools’ Chef Paul “preparing meals tirelessly and with great humor” at the Bromfield shelter.

He reflected on Harvard’s elderly citizens, saying that “power cables will come down and buildings need to be preserved and, if not, they get rebuilt. More importantly, Harvard citizens demonstrated an altruism that leads to response: people like Bonnie, like the EMT staff. From my perspective, we coped, but an elderly person’s perspective might be different.” He said that “the success of a town must be gauged by the sustainability of the elderly. It’s the ultimate responsibility to keep and to care for the aged. Harvard looked out for its elderly.”

Horowitz’s impression was that Harvard’s response to the emergency was nothing short of extraordinary. He was impressed with “the efficiency and the ability to reconnect, to rebuild, to take care of problems.”

He continued, “There has to be a support for and acknowledgment of the significance of the word ‘emergency,’ of people behaving in extraordinarily positive ways in Harvard.”