Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

The elimination of Redevelopment Agencies (RDAs) in California has left COTS with a huge government funding gap this fiscal year and a large projected gap next year. We have a three-pronged response to close the gap:

1. Reduce programs and staff (including salary cuts and layoffs-again!);
2. Increase individual and foundation giving with our Invest in Miracles strategy;
3. Advocate for state action for long-term solutions for COTS and other organizations.

We’re asking for your help advocating with the state legislature to pass the Housing Opportunity and Market Stabilization (HOMeS) Act (S.B. 1220), which funds:

• Affordable housing;
• Transitional and permanent rental housing;
• Emergency homeless shelters;
• Foreclosure mitigation, and more.

The HOMeS Act is projected to generate $700 million per year for affordable housing and programs like COTS, by imposing a $75 recording fee on real estate transactions.

We love that this bill creates a permanent funding source that:

• Provides funding for programs like COTS;
• Addresses the critical need to continue to develop affordable housing;
• Helps growing numbers of homeless people get and keep housing; and
• Helps those at risk of losing their homes to stay under a roof of their own.

Please help by:

• Clicking this link to the Housing California website, where with just a few minutes of time you can send support letters to California legislators; and
• Sharing this with your friends.

Many thanks for your support!

I’m blessed to work in a place of miracles: COTS, an agency that serves the homeless in Petaluma. I have so much to learn, and recently I was taught a lesson about being open to experience beauty in unexpected places.

Nearly every day at work I walked right past a woman who regularly waited in line for our daily lunches. She was almost always the first one there, arriving quite early to stake out her usual spot.

She sat hunched over, knees pulled into her chest, staring straight ahead. Her hair was disheveled and her clothes dirty. Her face was set and her eyes were disengaged from what was happening around her, as though she wanted to avoid interaction at all costs. To be honest, she scared me a little bit, and I’m not proud of that.

But each time I passed her, something tugged at my heart. I was ignoring a human being who deserved to be acknowledged like anyone else. I decided to say hello to her.

When I did, she turned her face toward me and looked into my eyes. It was a beautiful moment. I saw a woman who was open to me, with no trace of the sullen determination that had been there before.

A little habit formed that day. I always made sure to say hello to her, and she always looked at me and returned my greeting. Each time I felt a warm rush of joy.

Once we had a discussion. It had been a warm winter and the trees were blooming prematurely. We shared our love of the blossoms and our concern for their early appearance. Instead of the woman I once feared, I found a lucid and articulate conversationalist.

I haven’t seen her much lately, and I’m sorry I didn’t learn her name. I saw her walking once while I was driving. “There goes my new friend,” I thought.

I’m ashamed of my initial resistance to this lovely human being, but am glad that yet another piece of the wall around my heart has been broken through my experience with her. Beauty lurks in unexpected places. May we be courageous enough to see it.

Dear Friends,

Petaluma based COTS (Committee On The Shelterless) was one of 20 nonprofit organizations nationwide to be accepted to YouTube Next Cause: a program designed to help organizations that are already changing the world better use online video to drive action. At a one-day summit in San Francisco on April 2, selected participants will get access to everything from training in YouTube fundamentals, to promotion and community engagement tips, to one-on-one consulting sessions to grow their YouTube presence.

Would you please share this with your friends?

Job Announcement

COTS Leadership Giving Manager

COTS is recruiting for a new position. The Leadership Giving Manager candidate should have an impressive track record of accomplishments in leadership giving, donor relations, and events planning and implementation. Key responsibilities include managing all phases of our annual fund raising breakfast (over 600 attended last year) and participating in COTS’ Lifeline Campaign.

The individual should have strong skills in leadership, communication, project management and creating teamwork, and be comfortable with common office software.  The candidate should present a professional image to the community and be able to work with all socioeconomic levels effectively.  A high level of connection to the Petaluma area is desired.  A BA/BS or higher will be a plus for this assignment.

COTS’ most successful staff members are very committed to helping homeless people and are passionate about the organization’s mission.  This will be a key consideration in the hiring process.

This full-time position reports to COTS’ Development Director. Compensation at market rate DOE, with generous benefits.

COTS is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Please send resume and cover letter to Mike Kasper, .

Thank you for your consideration and interest!

Food boxes ready for delivery by volunteers

Here’s a lovely, true story.

A Dad and Mom, three teenage boys, and Grandmother were living together on the Dad’s very nice income.

Dad was laid off from his long time job.  With many mouths to feed (teenage boys!), their savings were quickly spent.

Mom needed some privacy to pray and grieve their desperate situation.  She drove to the public library.  As she sat crying in her car, she was approached by a homeless woman who asked her if she was okay.

After Mom explained the reason for her tears, the homeless woman told her about the Petaluma Kitchen, where she could go and get food for her family.  The family gratefully began to receive our weekly food boxes, which sustained them while they searched for jobs and other resources.

Dad now has a full time job at a lower wage, low enough that the family still qualifies for our food box program. But the family is well fed and staying together!

Little by little, day by day, COTS helps people put their lives back together. We thank all who support our work.

*We had 32 children from Grant School walk over to our Donation Site, each carrying a hand made bag full of thoughtful items for our Family Connection program.

*We also received 28 black garbage bags full of new items for all of our programs from Petaluma St.James Church.

*Joy Hinke from Broad Com in Petaluma came in and told me that their company sold raffle tickets for prizes at their company party and intended on donating the $800.00 to COTS in the form of in kind items and cash. They also hosted a giving tree, and are donating those items as well.

*Santa Rosa Kaiser nurses and doctors dropped of a huge box that contained special gifts picked out for one of our Adopt a Family participants.

*A beautiful black bike with pink and white tires was dropped off for one of our teenage girls in our program. It was donated by Johanna Szostak and co-workers from Redwood Credit Union in Petaluma who pooled  their money together to buy it for her.

*Instead of buying each other gifts, IONS (Institute of Noetic Sciences) generously gave attention to our emergency shelter folks by buying them things on their most wanted list. Awesome!

Our COTS Donation Site is located in the Golden Eagle Shopping Center  #32 and will be open:

Saturday Dec 17 12-4

Tuesday Dec 20th 4-6

Thursday Dec 22nd 5-7  (last day we are open)

Thank you everyone,
Andrea DeRosa
(Holiday Coordinator)

Here is COTS annual report 2011. Hope you find it helpful!