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Sometimes even Santa can use a little help. This past Christmas eight Stockton Police officers, a bunch of community service workers and the staff from Arroyo’s Cafe sacrificed Christmas morning with their loved ones to spread a little cheer to over 40 families in need. What made this all the more important was the fact that the children on this list were either victims or witnesses to a violent crime in the past year.
“We come out here and we see the smiles when we bring the gifts and when the kids see Santa,” said Stockton Police Chief Eric Jones to a local newspaper. He had his wife and children with him while making the deliveries. “It’s really priceless. It’s building those community bridges.”
A lot of folks lined up to make toy donations including Arroyo’s Cafe, Toys R Us, Morgan Stanley, Unilever Food Solutions, H & H Engineering, Hormel, the Police Officers Association, and many private donors. There were even extra toys on hand to give out to any neighborhood kid who happened to wander by when all the excitement was going on.
Junk King Stockton is another example of a Stockton area business which makes giving back to the community part of their mission. They accomplish this by designating those collected items which could be fixed up and used again to be dropped off at one of the many local charities. In many ways, this puts you front and center with the giving spirit as well. You don’t have to worry about whether or not something you want removed by Junk King is worthy of being a donated item. The JK crews are all well versed as identifying those useful pieces. They’ll be set aside and dropped off at the end of their pickup schedule to a recycling or refurbishing center.
So what are you ready to get rid of? Do you have a garage full of junk that would be better served if it were out of your home? Perhaps there is some old furniture that has seen better days. That can be given a fresh set of cushions or coat of paint by one of the skilled charity workers and then donated to a family in need. Of course, there is some junk that is truly just junk. For that Junk King will make sure it is dropped off at a certified landfill. You won’t have to worry about paying extra even if it means a dozen different drop offs for all of your junk. You’ll only be paying for the amount of space your stuff takes up on the back of the Junk King truck. Giving to charity was never easier!
Where does your recycling money go? That’s the question being asked of some concerned citizens and members of the CA state legislature as they make a review of collected funds. The official agency charged with handling task is the Beverage Container Recycling Fund. If you buy milk, wine or liquor you won’t be charged a fee but everything else has a five or ten cent charge tacked on. Most of that money is “recycled” back to the consumer in the form of rebates. In fact, nearly 85% of all recyclable containers are turned into cash. That translates to 17 billion out of 20 billion of these types of containers sold every year.
There are many local Stockton area charities which have made it easy for you to get rid of an old clunker of a car. These are for those autos in your possession which you know you can’t sell or trade in. They might have more miles on them then you care to admit. In some extreme cases, these cars aren’t even running anymore and are just taking up space in the driveway. When you contact these charities, they make all the arrangements to pick up the car and have it towed away. You’ll be signing the title over to them and alerting the DMV this car is no longer in your possession. In return, you get to take a decent sized tax deduction and it’s all on the up and up. But what about the other bulky items you want taken away? Not many charities are going to want an eight year old mattress or a worn out sofa. When you’ve got bulk you want to get rid of 
Illegal dumping will get you into trouble even if you’re on TV. Recently a local Stockton man and his employer were sentenced for their part in dumping hazardous waste along on Highway 70 back in February. This incident went down during the production of a reality television series called “Hell on the Highway: Highway Heroes.” What happened was the defendant Elizabeth Cannon-Lynch was operating a towing company called Running Bear Towing. She got a call to tow a truck in Portola that the driver had mixed diesel and unleaded fuel.
Over the last couple of months, the city of Stockton has taken a hit in terms of its economy. But there are some “green shoots” showing that the city might be on the mend. The restructuring of its finances is going to help shore up the area and folks will soon find that Stockton is a great place to live, work and raise a family. To do that, they are going to need a place to live. A depressed housing market can actually reveal a silver lining for potential new homeowners. This is because a lot of those homes that have been foreclosed upon are in need of a little TLC to bring them back to life. A savvy realtor understands this and that’s why they make an alliance with a company like Junk King.
Washing machines, dryers, refrigerators, ovens, water heaters and air conditioners all fall under the category of “white goods.” These are the items that can be recycled for their metal. However, they can’t just be melted down. They have to be properly dismantled. That’s because all of those items potentially contain some form of hazardous material that shouldn’t be released into the environment. These materials can include: encapsulated polychlorinated biphenyls; Freon, Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydro-chlorofluorocarbons (HCFC) and other refrigerants; mercury in switches and temperature control devices; Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate in metal-encased capacitors; used oil from compressors and transmissions. Pretty scary sound stuff isn’t it?
Have you taken part in Stockton’s Clean Sweep Program? The Clean Sweep is a yearly event to give Stockton stock residents a chance to get rid of their bulk items. There are 9 geographic zones that are split up between February and October which make up the Clean Sweep areas. Here are the guidelines as set forth by the Department of Public Works:
Is it time to head back to the gym? Most gyms experience a spike in membership at the beginning of the year. That’s when everybody’s New Year’s Resolutions kick into gear. That’s also the time when some folks decide to forgo the gym and instead opt for a home exercise routine. While noble, most treadmills or other exercise equipment end up gathering dust or being used for a clothes rack. If you’ve never been a gym member before then you should think about these proactive reasons.