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Using his own budget, trucks, fuel and employees, Steve Yapp, franchise owner of PODS of Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, saved FOOD Share, Ventura County’s regional food bank, more than $32,000 in transportation costs in 2006-2007. This past holiday season, his donation of logistics and services equaled more than $10,000 in 2008, bringing the three-year total to over $42,000.
“From September to December 31, food items collected in PODS containers at 22 VONS grocery stores throughout Ventura County were delivered to the FOOD Share warehouse in Oxnard for immediate distribution,” Yapp said. “This is just one way all of us at PODS give back to our community and support FOOD Share and other charities that work so hard year-round to help those in need.”
“Through our valued partnership with Steve and PODS we tackled hunger head-on,” said Bonnie Weigel, CEO of FOOD Share. “Having PODS in the parking lots of VONS grocery stores allowed the community to be active and participate and also allowed FOOD Share volunteers and staff to process and deliver food to families much quicker, saving us valuable time and money.”
“With the donated PODS containers we stored all food donations at the VONS stores and only made one pick-up per store at the end of the food drive,” said Andy Murphy, warehouse manager of FOOD Share. “In past years, before Steve stepped up to help, we used food bins and had to pick up the bins each week. Using PODS has eliminated our weekly trips over a six week period.”
A deep commitment to the local community
Yapp continues to serve local communities with his generosity throughout the Central Coast. In 2008, he donated hundreds of PODS containers to countless nonprofit agencies who, in the faltering economy, would have incurred expenses outside of budgets. Organizations including the Boys and Girls Club of Ventura, Relay for Life Cancer Walk/Run, Toys 4 Tots holiday toy drives, the American Lung Association, Ojai Music Festival, Oxnard Strawberry Festival, Sea Bee Days, Camarillo Jazz Festival and summer concerts in the park, and many more.
Last summer, PODS partnered with a local charity, My Stuff Bags. “Each year over 300,000 kids are rescued from abusive, non healthy environments and placed in foster care,” Yapp said. “Often kids arrive at a safe house or shelter with only the clothes they are wearing. My Stuff Bags provides each child with their own bag containing a blanket, stuffed animals and other gender and age appropriate toys and gifts. This winter we partnered with My Stuff Bags and provided two PODS storage units to cover their influx of donations for children.”
As a regular supporter of Casa Pacifica in Camarillo, Yapp has annually delivered five PODS to use as storage for donated toys for Christmas season, and personally donated more than 20 gifts, including Xbox 360 consoles and rock band games.
To aid the Salvation Army in its efforts to collect and store toys, the organization received two PODS storage units this past holiday season, but it was not the first time Yapp has stepped in.
“For several years in a row, Steve has allowed the Salvation Army to use PODS to store all of the donations from our toy drives , said Major Eric Lo of the Salvation Army in Oxnard. “In this difficult economic our partnership with Steve and PODS has shown that together we can help those less fortunate in more effective ways. It gave us all a boost in moral and brought us hope for the future by allowing us to share even more with our community.”
About PODS Enterprises
Founded in 1998, the PODS network currently provides service to a population of more than 236 million consumers. To date, PODS has completed more than 175,000 long-distance relocations, exceeded one million deliveries and has over 137,000 PODS containers in service. PODS moving and storage services are available in 48 U.S. states and throughout Canada and Australia.
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