FREDERICKTOWN — According to Linette Porter, the American Red Cross Knox County Chapter volunteer who managed the storm shelter in Fredericktown this week, the village fared well through the storm recovery because of its community spirit and its preparedness.

“It was just a community effort and they have a lot to be proud of,” she said Thursday night, after closing down the shelter after power was restored to most of the village.

Porter, who spent a month helping with disaster relief efforts in the Gulf states after hurricanes Katrina and Rita, said the shelter in Fredericktown ran as smoothly as the larger scale operations she has seen.

“This shelter was just as efficient as everything I’ve seen in the Gulf,” she said.

Porter said she was impressed with the ability of Fredericktown’s government agencies to work with the resources offered by the many businesses in town, large and small.

“Whatever we needed, it appeared,” she said. “All of the businesses made whatever we needed available, and I mean all the businesses.”

She said community groups such as The Salvation Army, churches, Interchurch Social Services and other service organizations all stepped up to make sure the people in Fredericktown were cared for.

Porter said that as the days passed, it became clear the snacks and bottled water provided by the shelter were not going to suffice, so local churches and community groups worked together to provide meals. Over 200 meals were provided by Thursday.

“It was like that book ‘Stone Soup,’” she said, referring to the Grimms Brothers tale about the community which feeds itself by combining a little bit from each family with a stone in a large pot, to create a delicious meal.

“We had Baptist pie, and Presbyterian soup, and Tomato Festival bread, and the Seventh-day Adventists provided popcorn and spoons,” Porter said. “It was really wonderful.”

The comfort shelter was housed at the First Presbyterian Church on Main Street. Porter said church volunteers were open and welcoming to all who stopped by for something to eat, or conversation, because their power was out at home.

She said many came in to recharge their cell phones and portable lanterns, and to fill up jugs of water. Sterilizing baby bottles was also a need the shelter was able to accommodate.

Porter said some in the community were hesitant to accept help, not wanting to take resources away from others in need.

“We wanted them to know we were here for them, too, and they were being so generous,” she said.

Porter said the Fredericktown Fire Department and Fredericktown EMS accommodated every request she had, and the fact that the Fredericktown Fire Department generator and the Fredericktown EMS emergency trailer were available at a moment’s notice, made the whole operation run much more smoothly.

“In Fredericktown, they were really prepared to assist their citizens with our help,” she said of the village’s cooperation with the Red Cross.