Courtesy photo.
VENTURA 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 27-29, local PODS Moving and Storage leader is donating its services to help the 26th annual Ventura County Stand Down (VCSD) to help 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.
“Dropping off the two PODS container full of donations and items for the VCSD event is truly an amazing sight to see,” said Al Jonas, Vice President of Regional Operations. “Claire as well as her team work tirelessly for months to lift the spirits of the veterans who attend and PODS is just honored to support them and our local veterans.”
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.
“PODS is truly our savior,” said Claire Hope, Founder and Director of VCSD. “When Steve Yapp of PODS heard about our event over two years ago, he stepped in with the donation of 2 containers. PODS allows us the freedom to access our stored items year round to ensure we can gather donations and prepare for our big Ventura County Stand Down Event in support of our local Veterans and their families.”
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 185,000 PODS containers in service.
For more information, go to: www.mylocalpods.com