BRATTLEBORO — Hilltop Montessori School of Brattleboro is launching a “tiny house” raffle to benefit the school's financial aid program and Morningside Shelter.
Jamaica Cottage Shop has donated a tiny house kit that Hilltop students and families will assemble this spring. The 7' x 12' house is built on a trailer for easy mobility and will be raffled off at 3 p.m. on the Brattleboro Common after the Strolling of the Heifers parade on June 6.
Tickets are $20 each and can be purchased at Hilltop Montessori School, Morningside Shelter, and online at www.hilltopmontessori.org/tiny-house-raffle-2015. In addition to Jamaica Cottage Shop of Londonderry, a number of area businesses are donating to the project, including Farnum Insulators of Dummerston, Lawton Floor Design of Brattleboro, and Leader Home Center.
“Students at Hilltop Montessori School learn important lessons about what it means to be human, how we as humans all need to meet our basic fundamental needs - one of them being shelter. We also emphasize what it means to be a responsible empathetic member of a community. For this reason, we as a school feel it is necessary to walk the walk of our talk,” said Head of School Tamara Mount.
“Preparing and serving meals for the Overflow Shelter, delivering pies to the Women's Freedom Center at holiday time, having the directors of organizations like Morningside Shelter come in and speak to our students about the work that they do – these are all a part of our school culture. By donating 20 percent of our proceeds from this raffle, we model the importance of both shelter and philanthropy to our students.”
Morningside Shelter is the region's only year-round shelter - serving people experiencing homelessness. The 30-bed shelter operates at capacity regardless of the season, offering a place to call home for families and individuals facing challenges to maintaining stable housing. Morningside offers supportive services to a number of people with precarious housing situations - helping to secure and maintain sustainable housing and prevent the threat of homelessness.
“We're grateful for our close relationship with Hilltop,” said Morningside's executive director Josh Davis. “They consistently think of us and make meaningful and generous contributions to support the shelter and our programs.”