COTS Food Programs Continue Long Tradition Serving Hungry in the Community

New Opportunities to Help Those in Most Need

May 12, 2011 (Petaluma, CA) Tuesday May 17, 2011 marks a new beginning for COTS’ Petaluma Kitchen as it begins its first day of service at its new location inside the Mary Isaak Center (MIC), 900 Hopper Street, in Petaluma, CA. This move is a first for the Petaluma Kitchen which was founded over 25 years ago. Access to the Petaluma Kitchen is off of Lakeville Highway at Caulfield Street. The Mary Isaak Center is located just over the new Smart Train rail tracks that cross Caulfield behind the Goodwill store. The Petaluma Kitchen will continue to provide all needy individuals and families in the region with a hot meal served from 11:30am daily. Additionally the Kitchen will continue to operate its weekly food box distribution program for seniors, families and other individuals in need. Anyone interested in applying for this assistance can contact the Petaluma Kitchen at 707-778-6380.

The Petaluma Kitchen serves over 125,000 meals annually and delivers more than 750,000 pounds of groceries. Volunteers will continue to be needed to help staff daily and weekly food programs at the Petaluma Kitchen. “Our volunteers are the life blood of our programs,” said Elizabeth Hale, COTS Director of Food Programs. “We depend daily on their help with the donated food items we get from community members and local businesses.” People interested in volunteering can contact Lynn Stanton at 765-6530 x 111 or visit www.cots-homeless.org.

As a result of this move, the Petaluma Kitchen will be able to provide food for more people. The new kitchen facility inside the Mary Isaak Center has been upgraded with professional grade equipment and food storage capacity which greatly increases the Kitchen’s operational efficiency. COTS foresees that people still struggling with homelessness will now have better access to COTS transformative programs. And the new equipment will also provide COTS program participants a chance to gain work skills, job experience and in some instances earn a small income. COTS has plans to develop a culinary training program and start a ‘social enterprise’ business making food products.

The Petaluma Kitchen got its start 29 years ago in response to the urgent needs of local people who were impacted by severe flooding on the Petaluma River. A ‘community kitchen’ was

established in a non-operational fire station on Payran Street in Petaluma. This ‘temporary’ kitchen evolved over the years into a vital community resource with more and more people depending on it for daily sustenance.

In 2002, COTS assumed management of the kitchen from the St. Vincent De Paul Society which had guided its operation for a number of years. At that time COTS established a daytime “Opportunity Center” at the Petaluma Kitchen location to help the many homeless people

coming to the kitchen to connect with needed services and to find shelter. In 2004, the City of Petaluma and COTS collaborated to develop the Mary Isaak Center (MIC) to provide emergency shelter and transitional housing for people who were homeless. When first built the MIC building was constructed with only a shell of a kitchen — a decision made for cost-savings and site development reasons. COTS made a commitment to the City to move the Petaluma Kitchen into MIC when the site became ready. Thankfully that has now happened.

Since its inception in 1988, COTS has helped thousands of individuals and families, each with their own story of challenges, to get back on their feet. COTS programs are nationally recognized as a model for homeless services, grounded in scientific research, compassion and practicality.

 

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