Each month, COTS staff are proud to share news of our programs, our community, and our clients as they work towards permanent housing. Thank you for reading and for supporting our work to end homelessness in Sonoma County!
Stopping COVID in its Tracks
With surges in COVID-19 happening across the country, it was only a matter of time: this August, a client in our Kids First Family Shelter was diagnosed with COVID-19. But the good news is, COTS staff acted fast! All families at KFFS were immediately evacuated to private hotel rooms with the help of Sonoma County officials, who also arranged for testing – and thankfully, everyone else’s results came back negative within a few days! In the meantime, KFFS has been professionally deep-cleaned. We are looking forward to welcoming our families back to COTS and helping them continue their progress towards permanent housing soon.
However, since it looks like we’ll all be living with the threat of COVID for a few months longer, COTS is implementing additional – and permanent – safety protocols that will keep clients and staff better-protected in the months ahead.
First, we get to thank the team at Rebuilding Together Petaluma, who installed a new permanent hand-washing station in our kitchen at the Mary Isaak Center. This replaces a temporary station set up at the beginning of the pandemic and will allow kitchen staff and volunteers to more easily follow safety protocols at every meal.
Thanks to a grant from the state, we are also able to add touchless faucets and a new HVAC system with UV light filters to our arsenal. HVAC systems using UV Light have been shown to be effective in eliminating even the most stubborn airborne bacteria and viruses, and while studies on its effectiveness in preventing COVID-19 are ongoing, we are hopeful that the new system will keep all of our staff and clients healthier long-term.
Together, we at COTS will continue to do everything we can to keep our community healthy and housed.
New Bunks, Better MIC
This summer, with support from the state, COTS was able to replace the old bunks in our Mary Isaak Center dorm with brand new models!
This was a wonderful change for staff and clients alike. The old bunks had a wider footprint making the pathways between beds harder to navigate. They also had no ladders to the top bunk! This was a huge barrier to residents with mobility issues – and was still a climb for even our sprightlier clients. Historically, many clients were limited to bottom bunks due to lack of ladders and railings for the top bunks. This meant that clients spent a longer time on the waitlist to receive shelter services. With the new bunks we are able to serve clients more efficiently and safely.
We are thrilled to have a more accessible bed and a more efficient space for every resident.
Special thanks to the hard-working volunteers from the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center who helped us construct the bunks!
Pictured: Christina Madden, left, and Julia Dodge, right, masked up at the Mary Isaak Center
Launching new Recovery Pathways
In our June Virtual Coffee with CEO Chuck Fernandez, we announced the launch of a new program at COTS called Pathways that provides additional choices to our clients who want help recovering from substance abuse. One way we do that is through recovery groups that meet a range of needs.
SMART Recovery is one option for clients, led by Julia Dodge, Lead Recuperative Care Coordinator. SMART stands for Self-Management and Recovery Training. The SMART approach differs from traditional AA programs in that uses a secular and evidence-based program focused on learning coping skills to help people live more productive and connected lives.
Recovery Maintenance is another group aimed at supporting clients throughout their recovery journeys. Led by Christina Madden, Shelter Case Manager & Recovery Specialist, it helps clients not just by preventing relapse but by providing clients with connection, support, and opportunities for self-care.
The two programs are complementary – clients are able to visit both groups to test the waters to see if recovery is right for them. Some clients even choose to attend both groups long-term to receive additional support.
Neither group is limited to participants at the Mary Isaak Center. Clients across our housing programs, including our parents at the Kids First Family Shelter, are welcome to join at any time. Because as Julia and Christina say, “The opposite of addiction isn’t sobriety, it’s connection.” With their range of experience in the field, they understand that addiction is a coping mechanism for life’s hardships – and science shows that the more connected an individual is with friends, family, and community, the less likely they are to rely on substances to make it through.
“I really believe that Pathways can solve our homeless problem in Sonoma County,” says Christina. With your support, we think she’s right.
AmazonSmile
With the fall school year and the upcoming holiday season on the horizon, don’t forget to set COTS as your charity of preference on AmazonSmile! Just search “Committee on the Shelterless” in the AmazonSmile Charity Lists and start giving back with every purchase! COTS has received more than $1,100 in donations from AmazonSmile, and it’s a great way to give back without adding to your monthly budget. Just remember to shop through the AmazonSmile link at smile.amazon.com.
Donor Spotlight: the Hathaways
For Ellen and Andrew Hathaway, supporting COTS is a family affair. When they first moved to Petaluma, Ellen started making deliveries for our food box program. Their toddler, Mars, would be in the back seat as Ellen drove from home to home. When Ellen had other engagements, Andrew would take her place on the route.
“We got to see the same people every week. It got to be about people we knew,” Ellen says. She went on to volunteer in our Rent Right class, where she worked one-on-one with our clients as they completed housing applications and budgets. She still sees some of the people she helped—they’re at their jobs or walking around their neighborhoods, doing well.
Ellen runs an executive search firm and has served many nonprofits as a consultant, board member, donor and volunteer. Andrew is a Sales Engineer for Adobe. They loving living within walking distance to downtown and being involved in lots of community activities.
“Especially now, with the pandemic, and all the problems that seem so big, I keep coming back to how fortunate we are in Petaluma to have COTS. It helps the unhoused. But it helps the community as a whole. Nobody wants to see people living on the streets. COTS lifts us all up.”
Ellen and Andrew make monthly donations which Adobe matches dollar for dollar.
“What I’ve learned over the years is that I may not be able to control the bigger world, but I can do things to make my own community better. Everyone deserves dignity. That’s the baseline, and we can do that in our community,” Ellen says.
Thank you, Hathaway family!