VENTRA COUNTY — For many veterans, daily amenities and other services can be hard to come by, but combining that with trying to assimilate back into a regular routine can be the biggest hardship of all. On July 29-31, local PODS Moving and Storage leader is donating its services to help the 24th annual Ventura County Stand Down (VCSD) work to end veteran homelessness.
During the two-night, three day event, homeless veterans and their immediate family members will have access to housing, hot meals, clothing, dental, medical, hygiene products, 50 outreach programs free legal counseling, as well as other social services that would otherwise be unavailable to them.
“PODS is committed to helping our veterans get back on their feet,” said Steve Yapp, owner of local PODS moving and storage. “They not only deserve our gratitude but our respect for serving our country and taking part in Ventura County Stand Down is our small way of saying thank you for your service.”
Beginning in early April, VCSD has carried out the task of collecting donations of clothes, shoes and other luxuries that some people take for granted. The donation of two PODS containers will be used to store donated items, equipment as well as other items and will be transported to the location where it will be unloaded.
“After 23 years of trying to find locations to store our equipment and expensive items in our garages, the donation of the PODS containers will save us a lot of time and headache,” said Claire Hope, Founder and Director of VCSD. “We all just took a breath because a lot of our funds were going to moving and storage costs, now they can go to more important expenses.”
For more information or to help volunteer, visit vcstanddown.org.
About PODS: Steve Yapp is the owner of three Tri-Counties PODS franchises that serve residents and businesses in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties.
Dedicated to the local community, Yapp’s franchises have donated hundreds of PODS containers to nonprofit and charitable organizations throughout Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, San Diego and Los Angeles counties since opening their doors in 2005.
A partial list of recipients include: Boys & Girls Clubs, FOOD Share of Ventura County, Casa Pacifica, Toys 4 Tots, California Strawberry Festival, Ojai Music Festival, Relay for Life, C.H.P. Holiday Toy Drive, Salvation Army, Santa Maria Good Samaritan, Oxnard Downtown Management District, Boy Scouts of Ventura County, California Visitors Center, Simi Valley Days, the Oxnard Salsa Festival, and Catholic Charities. PODS is a leader in the moving and storage industry providing both residential and commercial services in 46 U.S. states, Canada, Australia and the UK. Founded in 1998, PODS pioneered the portable moving and storage industry now preferred by many customers’ increasingly active and mobile lifestyles. To date, the PODS network has completed more than 700,000 long-distance moves, exceeded 3 million deliveries and has more than 165,000 PODS containers in service.
For more information, go to: www.mylocalpods.com.