Living Spaces And CBS EcoMedia Partner To Make Critical Upgrades To Hollywood Veterans Center In Los Angeles
Important Improvements Help Provide a Peaceful Environment for Veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars
May 22, 2014 /3BL Media/ - Living Spaces, a furniture retail company serving California and Arizona, has partnered with CBS EcoMedia to make critical upgrades to the Hollywood Veterans Center, operated by Volunteers of America, Greater Los Angeles. These upgrades will enhance the environment at the Center in ways that have been proven to be effective in alleviating symptoms of PTSD, including hypervigilance, stress, anxiety and severe depression.
The Hollywood Veterans Center is a residential facility for veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars who are experiencing severe levels of difficulty readjusting to civilian life. Residents have the goal of obtaining permanent housing, financial security and a personal support system. The Center’s individualized approach and a focus on compassion and tolerance is what makes it unique.
Living Spaces’ support will fund the construction of an exercise structure, which will house newly purchased exercise equipment. Living spaces funding will also purchase 10 heavy-duty bicycles that the veterans can use for exercise and local excursions, an 80-foot covered patio structure, new premium outdoor patio furniture, potted plants and trees, and outdoor electrical, lighting and installation items.
The new space will enhance the health of veterans at the Center by promoting peaceful contemplation and physical exercise, helping to alleviate the symptoms of PTSD, which occurs in an estimated 11-20 percent of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Living Spaces’ support will impact an estimated 144 veterans annually.
“Being an active member of the local community is very important to Living Spaces, and this is a natural extension of other current efforts where we support our nation’s veterans,” said Grover Geiselman, CEO of Living Spaces. “With the partnership of Volunteers of America, we’re excited to participate in this project and proud to honor the heroes that will get to enjoy this renovated space.”
To celebrate the partnership and express gratitude to our nation’s veterans, Living Spaces employee volunteers painted interior sections of the Hollywood Veterans Center today.
Hosts of the volunteer event included Justin Wood, a veteran and former resident of the Center; Bob Pratt, President of Volunteers of America, Greater Los Angeles; Dr. Jonathan Sherin, Executive Vice President of Military Communities and Chief Medical Officer of Volunteers of America; Grover Geiselman, CEO of Living Spaces; Paul Polizzotto, President and Founder of CBS EcoMedia.
Since March 2012, Volunteers of America has partnered with CBS EcoMedia to identify and provide support for underfunded improvement projects in low-income and subsidized housing developments nationwide.
“We are honored and deeply appreciative of the partnership we share with Living Spaces to provide the best transition opportunity possible for the men and women who have served our country,” said Bob Pratt, President of Volunteers of America, Greater Los Angeles. “Our work is not possible without the compassion and action taken by those in the community who support us and our veterans.”
“We owe a debt of gratitude to those who’ve served,” said Paul Polizzotto, President and Founder of CBS EcoMedia. “Thanks to Living Spaces’ financial support and the dedication of its employee volunteers, we are profoundly enhancing the living environment for veterans at the Hollywood Veterans Center.”
About Living Spaces
Living Spaces was founded in 2003 and serves California and Arizona with 11 retail locations and distribution centers in Rialto (CA) and Phoenix. For more information about Living Spaces, visit www.livingspaces.com.
About Volunteers of America
Volunteers of America is a national non-profit human services organization committed to serving people in need, strengthening families, and building communities. At Volunteers of America Los Angeles (VOALA), we see the potential in all people to build the skills that will allow them to rewrite the story they are living and face challenges with positivity and resilience.
Since 1896, we have been transforming the lives of our most vulnerable, including children and families from under–served communities, at–risk youth, Veterans, individuals and families struggling with homelessness, men and women returning from prison, and people challenged with addictions and substance use.
Every day, we combine deep compassion, highly effective programs, and an unshakable belief in each person’s innate health and potential, to achieve what many consider impossible. In VOALA programs, people learn that they are the authors of their own personal stories and able to make positive choices that move them toward an empowered and healthy future.
Some people can’t imagine doing what we do. We can’t imagine not doing it. For more information please visit www.voala.org.
About CBS EcoMedia Inc.
At EcoMedia, we’re propelled by the desire to create positive social change; that’s been our mission since we founded the company in 2002. In 2010, after successfully partnering with CBS on a wide range of environmental projects, EcoMedia became the newest addition to the CBS Corporation portfolio, exponentially scaling our reach across television, radio, interactive, publishing and outdoor media.
Through our patent-pending EcoAd, WellnessAd and EducationAd programs, an innovative twist on traditional advertising, advertisers are able to support much-needed local projects which in turn creates jobs, saves taxpayer money and improves the quality of life in communities nationwide. In the process, we’re fundamentally altering the advertising landscape, elevating the ordinary, traditional commercial – and media, in general – into a catalyst for tangible, quantifiable social change. Please visit ecomediacbs.com, like us at facebook.com/EcoMediaCBS or follow us at Twitter.com/EcoMediaCBS.
By participating in EcoMedia’s EcoAd, WellnessAd and EducationAd advertising programs, EcoMedia’s advertisers agree to provide funding for projects we believe will have a beneficial effect upon the environment, health and/or education within local communities. EcoMedia’s advertising programs are not certification programs nor are the EcoAd, WellnessAd or EducationAd logos seals of approval. EcoMedia does not in any way certify, endorse or make any representations about EcoMedia program advertisers, their products or services.
* * *
