COTS April Newsletter: Coping with Covid-19, and some much-needed good news
COTS: Coping with COVID-19
This week, COTS published an overview of our efforts to meet the challenges of the current moment to serve our clients in shelter, in our housing programs, and through supportive services. We hope this helps our community understand some of the challenges those experiencing homelessness face and some of the strategies our staff are using to keep our community safe and healthy.
“While the full impact of COVID-19 is yet unknown, we do expect it to have an exponential effect on the homeless community. In Sonoma County, 68% of homeless survey respondents reported having one or more health condition, making them particularly susceptible to illness, infection and death than housed populations. Increasing the urgency, a potential economic fallout could drastically increase the local homeless count and create an even higher demand for shelter and services. As that demand increases, so does the need for stronger sanitation, adaptable facilities, and additional staffing.”
– From COTS: Coping with COVID-19
COTS staff have displayed a remarkable courage and resilience through these necessary changes, and we are grateful to everyone in the community who has stepped up to make our work lighter: by donating food, funds, and necessary items, by making masks, by volunteering, and in so many incredible ways. We will continue to keep our community informed as we respond to the situation on the ground.
Report on the Sonoma County COVID-19 Homeless Team from Chuck Fernandez
People experiencing homelessness already have compromised physical, mental, and emotional systems. Living on the streets or in encampments with poor hygiene and dietary habits only make matters worse. For those coming into a shelter environment and living in a congregate environment, practicing “social distancing” is difficult.
So what is Sonoma County doing to address the homeless situation during these challenging times? LOTS. They set-up an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and a COVID-19 Homeless Team (Team) staffed with public health, medical, and City and County professional staff to direct homeless services and keep people safe. The EOC conducts twice weekly calls with all homeless providers in the County. We have several COTS staff on those calls.
The Team’s focus is on three areas:
- Mitigation Strategies, which emphasizes physical distancing and cleanliness. All shelters must comply with the six-foot rule. For COTS, our bed capacity will be reduced from 112 beds to around 56 beds to accommodate this change. The County is also working on placing 39 port-o-potties and hand washing stations throughout the County, including three in Petaluma.The Team is also working on getting supplies to homeless providers – hand sanitizers, masks and gloves, and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as soon as possible. Food insecurity for the 2,000+ unsheltered is also important, so a separate Food Team is addressing that issue.
- Overflow, which means finding a new spot for people displaced from the shelter because of physical distancing. Those over age 65 will be placed in a hotel/motel room. This process has already started in Santa Rosa.
- Quarantine, whereby the EOC is securing sites for people who need to be in isolation. There will likely be several sites across Sonoma County.
Things are changing rapidly and the EOC and Homeless Team are moving as fast as is humanly possible. They are taking this responsibility VERY seriously. By the time you get this newsletter, things will have already changed. We will do our very best to keep you updated through email, on our website at cots.org, and via social media. Thank you for your partnership as we rally around our neighbors experiencing homelessness at this uncertain time!
Good News
These days the news can be overwhelming – but at COTS, we’ve been overwhelmed in a different way: overwhelmed by the kindness, resourcefulness and courage of this community!
First, thank you to everyone who has made a financial donation to COTS. Keeping people safe means all sorts of extra costs for COTS. We are so grateful to those of you who anticipated our need. We share the messages of support that you include with your donations and they lift our spirits. Many, many thanks.
Here’s more good news:
Our staff and a crew of volunteers are keeping our shelters and housing programs running—and running well. Patience, professionalism, good sense, good humor and bravery are the characteristics that describe our staff. Many of our regular volunteers had to step aside to protect their health or the health of a family member. We are grateful to a group of new volunteers from the community and from among our clients. Thank you!
Just as the masks that St. John’s Episcopal Church donated were running out, an old-timey sewing circle has formed to make masks for staff and clients. Many thanks to KC Greaney for organizing this effort. To donate materials and/or sew some masks, please contact Eileen Morris at [email protected]. Many, many thanks to St. Johns for being the advance guard of our safety efforts.
We have artisanal hand sanitizer thanks to Canna Craft and the City of Petaluma’s water quality laboratory.
And just as our gloves were running out, Petaluma Valley Hospital came through with several boxes. That was followed by donations of gloves from Petaluma Police and Fire departments.
Thanks to the City of Petaluma for the donation of a long passenger van. Having it means we can now transport clients to medical appointment with safe distancing. This is a game changer!
Shadi Shamsavari of Human Remedy surprised our staff with a Persian feast. And there’s more on the way. Thank you!
Girl Scout Troop 10103 had to halt their cookie sales, so they donated over 100 boxes of delicious cookies to our kitchen. Never fear, Scouts. We are prepared! And grateful.
Our stalwarts are sticking with us. Ken O’Donnell and Family from McNear’s Saloon and Dining House continue to bring meals to the Mary Isaak Center. And we simply couldn’t survive without Lace House Linen right now. We are going through so many towels to keep our kitchen and dining room clean and virus-free. Lace House Linen supplies us with regular deliveries of clean kitchen linens free of charge. Trader Joe’s is, as ever, the mainstay of our food program. Thank you to all of them.
Acre Coffee has provided delicious food for our kitchen, making sure no one goes hungry at the Mary Isaak Center.
Students in our Kids First Family Shelter have a better chance to keep up with their schoolwork thanks to a gift of Kindle Fires from West America Bank.
And we are grateful for the productive, practical and creative discussions we’ve had with Petaluma Valley Hospital, the Petaluma Health Care District, and Petaluma Police and Fire to plan ahead for when someone in our programs tests positive.
The best news of all? People are still finding housing!
Celebrate Volunteers!
Our Volunteer Appreciation event had to be cancelled, so we’re showing our appreciation online. Through the end of April we’ll be featuring stories of the people who bring our programs to life, like Peggy Iacopi, pictured above, who has been volunteering for COTS for over 15 years!
And to sweeten the deal, Redwood Credit Union has once again issued their second annual COTS challenge grant to our community – meaning all donations received before April 30 will be matched up to $15,000!
We hope these stories will be a ray of sun in uncertain times, and inspire you to give back too – so that COTS programs can continue to serve those experiencing homelessness in our community. Help us meet the match today at cots.org and by following us on Facebook and Instagram.
Please visit our website at cots.org/volunteer-appreciation to read all about our many volunteers. It may be online, but our appreciation is anything but virtual.
Are you a volunteer who is willing to share your story with our community? Contact Eileen Morris at [email protected].
Outreach
How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,
Your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you
From seasons such as these? –King Lear
Some 400 years after Lear’s writing, we must still ask this question.
We don’t know how many people are camping in Petaluma during this season of pandemic. On a typical day, Outreach Specialist Jeff Schueller comes into contact with 40 or so. They’re camped by waterways and roadsides. They’re tucked under the freeway or bridges or behind buildings.
Jeff will tell you that they have very little to defend themselves against the virus. And much in their circumstances to make them indifferent to its effects.
Right now, COTS can’t offer these outreach clients a bed in a shelter. For the safety of our residents, we’ve had to decrease the number of people in our Mary Isaak Center dorm.
Jeff brings a big backpack out with him. It’s full of sandwiches, cookies, and fruit. The big pack also holds hand sanitizer, toiletries, socks, gloves, underwear. And his cards. “Everytime I see someone, even if I saw them the day before, I give them another card,” he says. “I want them to know who to call if they start feeling sick. And when this is over, I want them to know who to call if they want to make a change.”
“I stand ten feet away, but right now with everything closed, they are very happy to see me,” Jeff says. “I put the lunches and supplies down on the ground and we talk for a while. My hope is that we’re going to build strong relationships during this time.”
“They don’t have the news on all the time. Which might make them a little calmer than the rest of us. I’ll come out and they’ll ask, ‘What’s going on with that virus?’ I’m telling them what everyone says: stay six feet apart, keep your hands clean.” But they have no running water. Many public bathrooms and restaurant bathrooms are closed. COTS has had to reduce day-use services to protect our residents.
“Without a doubt, it’s not safe out there,” Jeff says. “Many of them are in desperate need of mental health care. And that can make it hard to make good decisions. There’s so much trauma.”
And, as of this writing, there’s so much uncertainty. What will federal and state governments provide to protect public health? To protect Jeff’s clients, and, by extension, the entire community?
“I am sharing all that I know with them,” Jeff says. “They understand that I’m standing so far away because I have a family to protect.”
No matter where we’re sheltering, we’re all going down rabbit holes, Jeff says, looking for anything to occupy us. “The other day I went out to one camp and they were all listening as one guy read from this big, big book. I was too far away to see what it was. So I asked them what they were doing, and they said, ‘He’s just reading words to us from the dictionary.'”
Jeff made a note to bring a few books with him the next time.
Jeff’s colleague Randy Clay covers Penngrove, Cotati and Rohnert Park. He also liaises with hospitals, long-term care centers and treatment facilities. The hope is to get people exited from care into safe situations.
We are so grateful to our community for supporting this work and for ensuring that COTS staff have the resources to reach out to the most vulnerable among us. If you’d like to support Jeff and Randy’s work, please donate here. We are also grateful for donations of socks, underwear and hand sanitizer.
Take-out is a hit
Take-out is a booming industry all over town, including at the Mary Isaak Center.
Meals are free to all comers at Mary’s Table. To promote social distancing, only our residents are dining in-house. Everyone else gets a to-go box. And what a to-go box it is. Pictured is Chef Janin Harmon’s Rosemary Chicken Breast with sautéed onions, bell peppers and squash. Those are accompanied by grilled asparagus, green salad and fresh Mandarin oranges.
Many thanks to the businesses which have donated to-go boxes, including Fishman’s Supply and The Shuckery in Petaluma!
Reminder: it’s not too late to vote for Chef Janin in the “Best Chef” category of the Petaluma People’s Choice awards. You can vote online by clicking here.
Volunteer Profile: Lucy Fairweather
Lucy Fairweather is an entrepreneur, making her way in the world by dint of her creativity and persistence. She’s a marketing consultant who specializes in helping her clients show up in Google searches. Before marketing, and right after graduating from Cal, she ran her own subscription gift box business. She called it Fair Ivy and had tens of thousands of subscribers. Lucy prided herself on promoting the work of hundreds of American artists and craftspeople.
Once a week she comes to the Mary Isaak Center to organize our refrigerator and pantry. That helps Chef Janin keep track of inventory and plan her menus. Lucy arrives and clears out the walk-in, gathering up the produce that can no longer be used. She dumps the old stuff in a bin for a local pig farmer to collect. Then, she helps to sort and put away a massive truckload of donations from Trader Joe’s. Then, it’s on to organizing shipments to the local food pantry. After that, it’s whatever needs doing–cleaning, chopping, pot-scrubbing.
Lucy’s much younger than most of our volunteers, so she gets called on a lot for lifting and toting.
“It’s a good workout,” she says. She’d originally planned to cook for COTS, but decided sorting was for her. “I like cleansing a mess. I like leaving things better than when I found them. When I leave, the job is complete and I can feel good.”
She’s always cared about homelessness. But encountering some people with “horrifying attitudes toward the homeless” prompted her to get involved. “That pushed me into wanting to do the opposite,” Lucy says.
Many days, she works alongside our residents. Working on the same task together makes conversations easier. “It doesn’t feel stilted or awkward. Sometimes we’ll talk about the strawberries. Sometimes they talk about their lives and how they ended up there,” Lucy says. “It’s really interesting and heartbreaking.”
“It puts a face on what a lot of people consider a ‘them,'” Lucy says. “Working with people shows you it’s not ‘them.’ It’s ‘us.’ They are just a less fortunate version of ‘us.'”
When she’s not volunteering or working, Lucy’s using her hands to make things–in the garden, in the kitchen or at her craft table.
Her advice to people thinking about volunteering: “Try it. You can find a job that works for you.”
Thank you, Lucy!
Show your support by donating today!
Want to read more stories about our volunteers? Visit our volunteer appreciation homepage by clicking here!
Share Lucy’s story with your friends and family:
Volunteer Profile: Jacky Evans
Jacky with COTS’ very own Chef Janin Harmon
When Jacky Evan’s is serving at Mary’s Table, you’re going to get a lot more than just lunch. How about a few smiles to go with that salad? A sparkly apron and some sweet greetings to go with your green beans? And if you want it, how about a friendly chat? Bonus: Jacky’s from England and it’s fun to hear her talk.
“I’m really aware that we may be the only positive interaction people have in their day,” Jacky says, explaining why she’s sure to make eye contact with each guest and provide a few kind words.
That positivity starts the minute she puts on one of her custom aprons in the morning and starts to make lunch. That’s because, in addition to working with her regular crew, Jacky also works alongside our residents. “When I finish one thing, I pitch in to help someone else,” Jacky explains. “If I need help, someone jumps in to help me. We’re all in it together and I want everyone to have a good experience.”
Diana Morales was homeless when she first met Jacky. Sometimes, Jacky would serve her lunch. Sometimes, she and Jacky would work together in the kitchen. Now, as COTS Community Engagement Specialist, Diana supervises all our volunteers, including Jacky. “I’m grateful for the respect she gave me back then,” Diana says. “And there’s no difference in the way she treats me now and the way she treated me then.”
“The smallest act of kindness can make a difference in someone’s life,” Jacky says. “I know that from my own life. I’m so very appreciative and happy when people are kind.”
Jacky started at COTS over six years ago, helping with our children’s program. She also pitched in with food sorting and found herself popping over to the prep kitchen to help out. Now, she and her Wednesday team have been together for years through thick and thin.
That means supporting each other through illness and loss, celebrating each other’s joys and achievements, learning each other’s stories, and making allowances for each other’s foibles. Jacky says, “We know each other very well at this point. Very well!” Recently, they took team captain Marge Popp out to celebrate her 95th birthday. “Marge made time for us between her volunteering and her jazzercise.”
Jacky and her husband, Novato dentist Lawson Evans, have been together for 16 years. Between them, they have four children. After a long career, including a stint as Pittsburg Steelers’ wide receiver Lynn Swann’s personal assistant, Jacky is happy to have the time to devote herself entirely to her family and her community. In addition to her work at COTS, she volunteers with MentorMe. “My husband really supports my volunteer work,” Jacky says. “He’s proud that we can give back this way as a family.”
Another way the family gives back is by postponing their own Thanksgiving dinner every year to come in and serve our clients. “We have our own get together a few weeks later,” Jacky says. “We call it ‘Thanxsmas.’”
We say “Thanxs much” to Jacky and the family that shares her with us.
Show your support by donating today!
Want to read more stories about our volunteers? Visit our volunteer appreciation homepage by clicking here!
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Volunteer Profile: Jeanne Krikawa
Working at Mary’s Table, “is almost like a dance,” volunteer chef Jeanne Krikawa says. “You have your team and you work with them. And you work around them. And you figure out what everybody needs. You just have this groove.”
Jeanne goes in at 1 in the afternoon and helps clear away lunch. Then, she and her team start prepping for dinner. “We’re cleaning, we’re slicing, we’re cooking,” Jeanne says. “One day it’s enchiladas. Another day, another menu. One day, we made chicken pot pie and a fellow volunteer from the Coast Guard who decided he loves to make pastry and bake. It’s always different.”
Except for the pace. That’s always fast. “And that’s what I love.”
She calls herself a “chronic volunteer.” In fact, before she moved in July to Petaluma from Seattle, her friends warned her not to jump into anything too quickly. They’d seen her give her all to the Seattle Planning Commission and to Girls on the Run. But, growing up, her Dad showed her that no schedule is too full for volunteering. “He gave and he gave,” Jeanne says. “And he did it while raising ten kids.”
Jeanne’s an architect and a consultant on planning for light rail station areas. Early on in her career, she helped design and remodel affordable housing and shelters. Naturally, when she moved to Petaluma, she and her husband took a tour of COTS.
They loved it, and soon Jeanne signed on for Saturdays. Chronic volunteer that she is, she also started helping kids in after school Homework Club through Mentor Me. That’s on top of the work she does with rescue farm animals at Goatlandia.
Her COTS work is on hold during shelter in place. And she’s eager to get back soon.
“I love the whole process: cooking, setting up, serving. I love that you never know who you’re working with until you start talking. It could be another volunteer like me or it could be a resident. It’s a great equalizer. We’re all trying get the same thing accomplished.”
“It blows my mind that we can pull it off every week. The meals are amazing.”
She sees Mary’s Table as a great resource. And not just for food. “Anyone can come in and get a great meal and enjoy a little conversation, a little socializing,” she says. “There’s a huge respect for the guests.”
If you’re thinking about volunteering: “Absolutely do it,” Jeanne says. “You get so much more out of it than you can imagine. When I leave, I’m tired but energized.”
Thank you, Jeanne!
Show your support by donating today!
Want to read more stories about our volunteers? Visit our volunteer appreciation homepage by clicking here!
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Volunteer Profile: Golden Hills 4-H
4-H-ers pledge their hands to service.
And what a service Golden Hills 4-H volunteers have provided to COTS this year!
The club held a huge bake sale during the holidays and then went shopping for our holiday free store. That’s the retail space where community members donate gifts for our clients and their children. Kids and parents get to shop for presents for their loved ones for free.
COTS gave the 4-H kids a list of things we needed for the store, but it was a general list. The club members took their experience and knowledge and bought the cool things kids would want. They were also careful to stretch their dollars as far as they would go.
They didn’t stop there. After the holidays, sixth grader Jack Tranfaglia learned that we needed welcome home baskets for families who were moving into their own homes after a bout of homelessness.
He organized a collection among his club members and other friends. In February, 4-H Golden Hills was able to provide over a dozen baskets full of cleaning supplies, spices, kitchen tools, toilet paper, canned goods—many of the things you need to set up a new home.
“It’s not as hard to do as people would think,” Jack says. “When we said it was for COTS, people wanted to give.” Jack is grateful for all the club members’ participation.
Jack loves the 4-H club not just for its commitment to community, but for its focus on robotics and STEM technology. Right now, he’s learning how to do 3-D printing.
His advice to people thinking about volunteering: “Look things up before you start. Learn about COTS and what they do so you can explain it.”
Thank you, Jack. Thank you, Golden Hills 4-H members and parents!
Show your support by donating today!
Want to read more stories about our volunteers? Visit our volunteer appreciation homepage by clicking here!
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Volunteer Profile: Father Michael
Mr. Carson and Lady Mary of Downton Abbey. Photo Courtesy Carnival Film & Television Limited/Masterpiece.
The Petaluma chapter of the Sir Julian Fellows’ fan club meets every Tuesday at COTS Mary Isaak Center. There, behind the serving line, Downton Abbey’s Carson the Butler serves milk and juice, while Lady Mary, in a wonderful display of noblesse oblige, serves up salad.
Carson is Father Michael Culligan, and Lady Mary is Linda McGaw.
“She’ll tell me what I’m doing wrong, and I’ll tell her, ‘Tea will be served in the library, my lady,’” Father Michael says. “We can go on for quite a while like that.”
Father Michael, recently retired from St James Catholic Church, has 60 years of experience leading a flock. Still, Linda/Lady Mary says he still has a long way to go until he can move up to salad duty.
But he has potential, Linda admits. “He’s ambidextrous, I’ll give him that.” she says. “When I’ve told him, ‘Carson, get things moving, speed it up,’ he can dish cottage cheese with one hand and pour juice with the other. All the years I attended his masses and I never knew that.”
Father Michael started volunteering right after he retired in July. “And we are so happy to have him,” says Diana Morales, our Community Engagement Coordinator. “His sunniness and his kindness shine through. And he knows people. He remembers what they like.”
While pastor at St. James, Father Michael encouraged all his parishioners to support COTS and also championed a parish outreach fund, half of which went to COTS to provide rental assistance to help people avoid becoming homeless.
Originally from Killarney, Father Michael returns to Ireland each year to visit his six brothers and two sisters.
Why does he volunteer at COTS? “Oh, gosh,” he says. “It’s necessary. It’s a good way to serve the community.”
Thank you, Father Michael!
[Editor’s note: in true Crawley family tradition, Lady Mary (Linda McGaw) declined to be profiled. But nothing can stop us from saying that we’re grateful for her help, too!]
Show your support by donating today!
Want to read more stories about our volunteers? Visit our volunteer appreciation homepage by clicking here!
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Volunteer Profile: Sam Yee
For Sam Yee, it’s personal.
“I’m giving back because so many people gave to me,” she says. “Plus, it just feels amazing.”
A former COTS resident, now housed and on a successful career path with the Exchange Bank, Sam volunteers in our food programs and our holiday free store. She’s also been a riveting speaker at several of our events.
“Volunteers were so kind and so nonjudgmental when I was at COTS,” Sam says. “They helped me in so many ways, including helping me to take a breath and relax. I needed that so I could get to work.” She has a long list of people to thank, from the people serving food, to the helpers who worked with her in classes or who watched her son Evan so that she could work, study or meet with a case manager.
Giving back is even better than receiving, she says.
Serving food, “I always noticed with each person that they were so happy to get a meal. The gratitude lit up my heart. It’s humbling, really. My heart always feels full when I go there.”
Her favorite part of the holiday free store is kids coming in to shop for their brothers and sisters and grandparents shopping for their grandkids. Kids would take delight in picking the perfect gift, and would brag about how they knew better than anyone what their siblings would like.
“Grandparents, when they left, you could see that there was a weight lifted,” Sam says. “Some of them told me, ‘These are the only gifts the kids are getting.’”
Sam assembles a team of her bank colleagues to help with the holiday store every year. We could not provide gifts to our families without the donations and labor from Exchange Bank employees and customers. We are grateful to them. And we can’t thank Sam enough for spearheading the effort.
Sam twice spoke to a crowd of over 400 people at our COTS hour. This year, she hosted the event along with our board member Chris Ranney.
“The first time I did it, when I told my story, I wanted to do it because there’s such a stigma around homelessness. People are afraid of homeless people.”
“I wanted people to know that homeless people aren’t bad. They just don’t have a place to lay their head. All I needed was some help, and, look, I’m back on my feet. I wanted to share my story so that people could see that a little bit of help can really change a life.”
She hosted this year, “because I love COTS so much. Anything I can do for COTS, I would love to do it.”
For people who are considering volunteering, Sam says, “Try it. You don’t realize how much of an effect you’re having. You might think it’s small, but it’s a huge deal for people who might need a little bit of sunshine and a little bit of help.”
Thank you, Sam!
Show your support by donating today!
Want to read more stories about our volunteers? Visit our volunteer appreciation homepage by clicking here!
Share Sam’s story with your friends and family:
Volunteer Profile: Edgar Marroquin
Edgar Marroquin, right, volunteers with fellow sorter Phyllis Tajii, left, most Tuesdays and WednesdaysWe’ve known it for years, but now all of Edgar Marroquin’s colleagues know it as well: he is a super star!
Volunteer extraordinaire Edgar Marroquin was recently recognized by his colleagues and management at Subaru as a SubeStar for all his work for COTS. When he’s not selling or leasing cars, you can often find Edgar in our kitchen, sorting, cleaning, chopping and serving.
“That smile of his is from ear to ear,” says Diana Morales, COTS Engagement Specialist. “He can turn anybody’s day around with that smile.” Edgar works side by side with our residents and will frequently share a meal with one or several, listening, chatting, encouraging.
Giving ear to everyone comes naturally.
From his earliest years, Edgar’s navigated different languages and cultures. He spent his childhood in Guatemala and completed high school in the United States. Edgar spent many years working in San Francisco’s finest jewelry stores, catering to the people you see in the society pages. “There’s not that much difference between people,” Edgar says. “It’s just that some of us have money and some don’t.”
His past customers took pleasure in finding a rare diamond or watch; his current customers want a car that works for them. “At COTS, everyone smiles when they have a nice meal, prepared with love,” he says. “It gives me great pleasure to see that, to be part of that.”
And he’s not there just to make everybody feel good. “He is a do-er,” Diana says. “Technically, he’s there to sort our food donations, but when he’s finished with that, I see him cleaning out our dumpster area, cleaning the mats—whatever it is we need.”
Edgar started volunteering about ten years ago. “My kids were grown,” he explains, “and I didn’t have much to do on my days off, so I started to work at COTS.” Initially, he did office work, organizing and gardening at our Kids First Family Shelter.
Then we needed him at Mary’s Table and he answered the call.
Edgar runs marathons and helps care for his elderly mom when he’s not at COTS or at work. His life is full, and we thank him for sharing it with us and our clients.
Thank you, Edgar!
Show your support by donating today!
Want to read more stories about our volunteers? Visit our volunteer appreciation homepage by clicking here!
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Volunteer Profile: Our Founding Volunteers
Photo by Scott Manchester. Thanks to the Argus-Courier for allowing us to use this photo.
COTS stands for “Committee on the Shelterless,” and in our early days in the late 1980s we were truly a committee of volunteers—a group of people who were horrified to see the “big city problem” of homelessness come to Petaluma. They moved heaven and earth to provide food, shelter and the chance for a better future to those who were struggling to get back into homes of their own.
Mary Isaak and Laure Reichek were the two ringleaders.
“Mary was easy-going and conciliatory,” says Tim Kellgren, Elim Lutheran Church’s retired pastor and one of COTS’ first board members. “I think of her as the great mother of this organization. She cared so much, and she had utter confidence that the community would come together.”
Laure was “feisty,” Tim says. “She gave everyone that push that we needed. You just can’t say, ‘no’ to Laure.”
Together, Mary and Laure recruited hundreds of supporters, establishing food and shelter programs for those in need. There’s hardly a business, a congregation, a community group or a neighborhood block that didn’t pitch in—cooking, cleaning, hauling, teaching, babysitting, fund-raising, advocating.
Volunteers are still the heart of our operations, and, as homelessness increased, we’ve augmented their ranks with professional staff. We now serve people throughout the county. On any given night, COTS shelters up to 140 people and we provide support to nearly 400 people to help them maintain permanent housing.
Mary Isaak
The only title Mary ever wanted was “Go-fer and Chauffeur,” says Grayson James, whom Mary recruited to be COTS first Executive Director. “She wanted to be doing all the time. She had no appetite for sitting around a table and talking.” That was a good thing, Grayson says, because the amount of work required of her in COTS’ early days was staggering. “She put in 80-hour weeks. That was the norm,” Grayson says.
COTS wasn’t Mary’s first life-saving project. A few years ago, a middle-aged man came to a tour of our Mary Isaak Center. He told us Mary was the reason he was alive. She’d helped him navigate a rough patch in his life through the Live Oak High School, an alternative school she founded in Petaluma. “And I’m not the only one,” he told us. “There are a lot of us who loved Mary.”
Mary kept doing for COTS until just months before her death in 2007. She helped with our food programs and served on the board. When her health and her hearing deserted her, she stuffed envelopes from home.
Her children remain active with COTS and our flagship shelter in Petaluma is named for her.
Laure Reichek
After Nazis murdered her grandfather, a teenage Laure took his place in the French Resistance, transcribing radio messages from the Free French and delivering them by bicycle to Resistance fighters hidden in camps and safe houses throughout the countryside. After the war, she fell in love with American artist Jesse Reichek and they settled in Petaluma where she brought her signature courage to the fight against homelessness.
Laure is the one who first noticed people pulling food out of a grocery store dumpster, first noticed people camping by the river. She immediately knew to enlist Mary because, she said, “Mary wanted to do good and because we both liked to smoke and drink coffee.”
Dan Jaffe, the founder of Copperfield’s Bookstore, was an early and ardent volunteer. He said this in an interview with the Argus-Courier. “[Laure] has organized more people faster than any of the organizations I’ve been part of. She has the combined energy of ten people, yet I’ve never seen her lose sight of her caring and sincerity. She works 12 hours and will still get up in the middle of the night if someone needs her.”
Laure went on after her work with COTS to develop employment programs for homeless adults and to teach English to immigrants. We are thrilled that she continues to advocate for COTS and our work.
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Volunteer Profile: Marie Fletcher
Caring, Compassion and Competence. That’s what nursing is about.
Marie Fletcher embodied those qualities during her long career as a nurse anesthetist. “I had five minutes to build a rapport with someone whose life was going to be in my hands. I had to know what I was doing and I had to show them that I knew,” she says.
She also represented her profession as president of The American Association of Nurse Anesthetists’ Nebraska chapter. She was involved with crafting important legislation and regulations that lowered costs for patients, improved health outcomes and increased the standing and respect for her profession.
“I do know that I have a talent for seeing what needs to be done and then getting people together and doing it,” Marie says.
We’re lucky that Marie decided to get things done for us! And to share her talent with us for over 25 years.
In 1994, she and her husband Dave had just moved to Petaluma. They were both working as Nurse Anesthetists and they were parishioners at St. Vincent de Paul Church. They went to a ministry fair one Sunday after mass and learned about our revolving shelter program. The program has since been replaced by other, less transitory options for families, but, while Marie was involved, many local congregations would host families for two weeks, and they’d do it twice a year. Marie and Dave were busy with work, but they decided they could help with this program. Before long, they were organizing everything for the St. Vincent’s temporary shelter: transportation, meals, homework sessions, cleaning, crafts, supervision, safety.
Later, when we began offering weeks-long classes, Marie and Dave enlisted co-workers to help them cook meals and deliver them to our classrooms in churches and schools throughout Petaluma. Marie lost Dave in 2006, and she retired, but she kept making meals and delivering them. Not only that, she started volunteering in the classroom as a mentor, helping students absorb the curriculum and complete their assignments.
She recruited a team of mentors and cooks that stuck with the class until we put it on hiatus.
Now, Marie is part of two teams at Mary’s Table, sorting donated food and cooking wonderful meals.
She stays involved because she sees how her work helps. She loves running into Gwen, a woman whom she helped with a job application twenty-some years ago. Gwen’s at the same job she found back then, and her kids are grown up and healthy. “If you can help one person, it makes it worthwhile,” Marie says.
She gets to know our clients, especially the ones who help on the serving line with her. “I never turn any of them down for help.” Marie says. “It’s nice because there are slow times when you chat a little bit.” She’ll learn about people’s families and plans, and she’ll encourage them to persevere. She may share a story of her own, about one of her 15 grandchildren.
Marie is taken aback when you ask her why she gives so much.
“I’ve never really thought about why I do what I do or what I am,” she says. “I want to use my talents and my treasure and my time for the common good.”
“I feel sorry for the small guy, the one who’s getting tromped on. I want to do something for that person.”
Her advice to prospective volunteers? “Come and try it. Someone will help you get through it and if you enjoy it, come back. If it’s not for you, that’s fine, at least you tried.”
Thank you, Marie!
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