Pot shops foot homeless shelter’s bill for 100 new beds in California

A homeless shelter in Southern California has installed 100 new beds–thanks to the state’s legal cannabis shops.

 

 

The temporary shelter, located in Oxnard, acquired the beds after a police chief in nearby Port Hueneme got in touch with the co-ordinator of the company’s homeless program after seeing media coverage showing air mattresses lying on the floors.

Police Chief Andrew Salinas contacted Oxnard homeless program coordinator Mark Alvarado, who told him that the shelters are in desperate need of proper beds. Salinas started contacting pot shops; five of the dispensaries immediately donated about $25,000, with another $10,000 subsidized by the Port Hueneme community fund.

“I immediately reached out to our cannabis dispensaries and within two days, I had $25,000 in donations, with over $17,000 of that from Skunkmasters, one of the first dispensaries to open in Port Hueneme,” Salinas told the Ventura County Star.

Skunkmasters co-founder Mark Tatum was in immediate favour of the project.

“We saw a major, major benefit of helping the homeless, and it touched base with a lot of our staff members,” he was quoted saying.

“So we decided to make a pretty substantial donation towards supplying these beds and giving these people a little peace of mind and a place to rest their head at night.”

The beds were delivered earlier this week and assembled by approximately 30 volunteers who came down via a local carpenter’s union. They were a hit with shelter residents.

“I think they’re wonderful,” said Linda Bassett, 70, who has mobility issues and has difficulty getting on and off an air mattress. “It’s so much easier to get into the bottom of a bunk bed than an air mattress that’s on the floor.”