Resources: For Students and Teachers

UNSHELTERED LIVES is an interdisciplinary activity guide for grades K-12. Click Here to download Unshletered Lives.

Create Your Own Fundraising Web Site for COTS!

Are you a student looking to earn community service hours by organizing a fundraiser for COTS? Do you love to hike, run, bike, kayak, or dance? Are you the kind of person who has everything and would just assume that someone make a donation to COTS in your name for your next birthday or Christmas gift?

Thanks to a new, innovative on-line fundraising tool, just about anything and everything can now be turned into an opportunity to help raise money for Vermont’s homeless families and individuals.

You can now set-up an Online Personal Fundraising Page to help with your fundraising efforts for COTS. No matter what event you are participating in, your Personal Fundraising Page will help you raise more money with less hassle.

It only takes a few minutes to create your Personal Fundraising Page. Once you have customized your Page with a photo and your personal appeal, e-mail the link out to friends, family, co-workers, teachers, and neighbors – everyone that can help you reach your fundraising goal. Supporters can make secure on-line donations right from your Personal Page.

To get started:

1. Go to COTS/JustGiving Web Site

2. Click on the Get Started button and set up your Page

It’s that easy. The funds you raise are received quickly and efficiently and sent to COTS directly.

Suggested events that you can turn into personal fundraising events include:

Marathon

Bike Ride

Dance Marathon

Dog Walks

5K Fun Run

Bowl-a-Thon

Hiking

Mountain Climb

Sky Dive

Golf Marathon

In Memory Of

Birthdays

Quit Smoking

Lose Weight

Haircuts

Duck races

Boat races

You are only limited by your Imagination!

Unfortunately this tool cannot be used for the COTS Walk.

Homeless to Harvard - DVD

Teacher's may sign-out this movie from the COTS Video Library by contacting 864-7402 X108.

Liz Murray grew up extremely poor and her parents were drug addicts. Murray's mother also suffered from mental illness and AIDS. At 15, she found herself alone and out on the streets. But instead of crumbling, the troubled teen clung to hope. Her determination took her all the way to Harvard University. Run Time: Approximately 1.5 hours - Lifetime Television

In April 2003, Lifetime Television premiered the Lifetime Original Movie, Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story. The movie, which is based on a true-life story, was accompanied by an educational campaign to increase awareness about the issues and solutions of homelessness and promote youth empowerment. As part of this campaign, the National Alliance to End Homelessness and Girls Inc. partnered with Lifetime to develop the Homeless to Harvard educational toolkit.

Below are links to Teacher's Toolkit which includes fact sheets and activities to facilitate classroom discussion:

Homeless To Harvard

Homeless To Harvard Teacher's Manual

Shelter Boy - VHS

Teacher's may sign-out this movie from the COTS Video Library by contacting 864-7402 X108.

Shelter Boy is a mini-documentary about a young boy whose family loses their home and ends up in an emergency shelter in California. The story shows what the boy must go through to attend school while living in a shelter. It also shows how he must deal with the stigma of being homeless and being called "Shelter Boy" by his classmates.

Run Time: 15 minutes - FOX BROADCASTING COMPANY, 1999.

COTS SPEAKER'S BUREAU

COTS educates the public about causes of, and solutions to, homelessness and what individuals/groups can do to help end homelessness in Vermont.

COTS Speaker’s Bureau provides an opportunity for classrooms to learn more about who becomes homeless and why; foster a greater awareness of the reality of not having a home in America; and spark interest in becoming involved in the struggle to end homelessness, especially on a local level.

COTS offers personal and group tours for those wishing to learn more about the shelters and services provided by COTS to Vermont's homeless population.

For more information, or to make an appointment for a visit or tour, call 864-7402 x104. or Click Here to fill put an email request form.

The National Coalition for the Homeless has published guides for students of all levels to learn about homelessness in school. Click Here for these guides.

HOW STUDENTS & TEACHERS CAN HELP COTS

At COTS, we rely heavily on community support. Our needs change frequently,

depending on the time of the year, so the best approach is to call and ask

what the needs are today: 802-864-7402 x104, or Click Here to learn ways that you can help address ongoing needs.