In 2016 we celebrated 75 years in business! Every year we enjoy being involved in our community, helping our neighbors in need & helping others “Pay It Forward” with our annual Ken Cota – Gift of Warmth during the holidays. This year though, was very special to us and as a thank you to our many loyal customers and caring communities we gave away a new high efficiency heating system, three gifts of warmth, and partnered up with Oil Heat Cares to help a family in need.
Lucky winners from Brattleboro, Saxtons River, and Manchester mixers were all provided with a chance to “Pay It Forward” to an individual or organization in need in their community. One gift of warmth decision really represents the kind of Vermont roots that fuels our family business.
Longtime Bellows Falls business owner, Ray Massuco, won the Saxtons River gift of warmth and within seconds knew a deserving organization only a few blocks from our office in Bellows Falls that he would be thrilled to see 100 gallons of heating oil donated to. The Bellows Falls Community Bike Projects’ mission is to provide community access to reclaimed bicycles and bike repair skills, encouraging safe bicycling as a means of affordable transportation, self sufficiency and overall wellness. With only two paid employees and the rest dedicated volunteers Ray said they could certainly use a little help in the new year with heating their building.
Every Vermont winter brings different challenges and obstacles for families and businesses. This year we made a service call to a local elderly couples’ home to look at their boiler. Unfortunately it was cracked, they had no way to afford a new one and admitted to already going over a month without hot water. We then talked to Oil Heat Cares and developed a solution to help provide this family with a new heater to last them the next 30-40 years.
They covered half of the cost and we took care of the remaining. While we were there our techs and plumbers noticed the stairs to the basement needed to be replaced, so they worked together and built a new, safer staircase for this family. We are very thankful to have been a part of this group effort and proud of our caring employees that go the extra step for our customers. This generosity has helped us reach the 75 year milestone.
Our 75 year heating system giveaway was gifted to a very deserving family in the Upper Valley.
Phil & Liz Edson own a New & Used Furniture store in the Upper Valley. Facing the need to replace their old heating system soon or replace the aging roof on their home/business, they were relieved to receive our call and excited that they’d be receiving a high efficiency Energy Kinetics System 2000.
Just before Christmas, Cota & Cota’s Green Street office collected three big boxes of non-perishable food for Our Place food shelf & drop-in center in Bellows Falls. The winter months can be harder than others for local families and Our Place provides many helpful services including a food shelf and warm meals.
We were joined by our local celebrity, recently crowned Miss Vermont USA 2017, Madison Cota! The Cota & Cota family is very proud of and excited for her journey in 2017. You can follow her journey on facebook!
(Pictured above: Casey Cota sharing the Ken Cota Gift of Warmth story)
We enjoy attending the Brattleboro Chamber of Commerce Holiday Mixer every year. It is a wonderful way for local businesses and organizations to celebrate the holidays while meeting others who are also working hard to better their community. We like to take this occasion every year to give away 200 gallons of heating fuel in honor of Ken Cota.
Our long standing family tradition is to “Pay it Forward”, especially during the holidays which can be a struggle for many. The Gift of Warmth is awarded to a chamber member who then needs to select a family or organization in their community who may be facing challenges and just needs a little help to make it through the winter and overcome those challenges.
This year we would like congratulate Sabine Rhyne from the Brattleboro Food Co-op!
In the spirit of “Paying it Forward”, Sabine is now responsible for finding someone who could use a little extra help this winter to pass the fuel along to.
Do you know someone who could use the extra help? Listen to 96.7 WTSA FM in Brattleboro, or 953 and 1071 The Wolf in the Upper Valley to find out how to nominate someone to receive 100 gallons of fuel!
Last year a caring community member called in and offered to donate another 100 gallons of fuel!
Learn more about the history of Ken Cota’s Gift of Warmth
http://www.cotaoil.com/in-your-community/cota-gives-back/
(Pictured above: Casey Cota with Gift of Warmth winner, Sabine Rhyne)
On May 9th Cota & Cota employees took part in the 6th Annual Grace Cottage Hospital “Spring Into Health” 5k walk/run. We have enjoyed being a part of and watching this event grow since 2013.
Despite the cold temperatures there was a great turnout for both the main 5k run and the children fun run on the green afterwards. Dave Moore from the Jamaica office took part in the race while Shari Yates from the Bellows Falls office cheered on runners at the finish line and provided cold water with Cota & Cota beverage cups for refreshment.
We are always thrilled to support organizations like Grace Cottage Hospital that make such a difference for families in our community.
Grace Cottage Hospital has many annual events that focus on community and well-being. Their next event is a Golf Benefit, “Tee It Up for Health on Saturday, June 13th in Wilmington VT. Check out their calendar for more community events: http://gracecottage.org/events/
Photos: Dave Moore at the Cota & Cota event booth & runners beginning the race.
Cota & Cota employees are active and engaged members in their communities. Visit our Facebook page to see more events and organizations we support.
Over the Christmas Break, the plumbing elves at Cota & Cota were busy inside the Kurn Hattin Homes gymnasium. The Cota plumbing team donated and installed a state of the art drinking fountain and bottle filling station for the children to use during gym class and athletic events. This station delivers a quick, clean water bottle fill and enhances sustainability by minimizing dependency on disposable plastic bottles.
Casey Cota, President of Cota & Cota, inc. has coached some of the Kurn Hattin children in basketball and saw that the old water fountain was outdated. He felt that this would be a great benefit to the students and staff at Kurn Hattin Homes as well as helping reduce waste on campus.
Connie Sanderson, Executive Director of Kurn Hattin Homes said that they are very appreciative of the Cota contribution to Kurn Hattin. This new drinking fountain not only is very useful but the Cota team also placed it in a location that is more accessible than the old fountain.
Kurn Hattin provides a safe home and nurturing environment where boys and girls from disadvantaged backgrounds or adverse family circumstances can live, learn, grow and thrive while their families get the support and help they need. Our aim is to work with the whole family with a view to reunite children with their parents.
