In Fairfield, Connecticut, Westy Self Storage is participating in the Toys for Tots donation drive again this year. The drive will run until December 24. People can drop off new toys 7 days a week from 8:00 a.m. through 6:00 p.m. on weekdays and from 9:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. on Saturdays and 11:00 a.m. until 4:00 on Sundays. [More]

In the next few months, several self storage state associations will hold conferences and trade shows. Here is some information on ones held in Connecticut, Florida, Arizona, and Canada. [More]

With as many as 15 million children leaving school each day with nowhere to go other than the streets, one Connecticut self storage facility is doing something about it. New London Self Storage is offering a 10’ x 25’ sq. ft. unit free of charge to Heavy Hitters USA, www.heavyhittersusa.org a non-profit organization that provides after-school and early-evening wrestling, boxing and conditioning programs for kids and young adults from New London and nearby towns. [More]

Analysts say that the decline in new home sales is starting to hurt moving businesses, which normally would be starting to hit their peak season at this time of the year. In July of this year, new home sales fell to their lowest level since the government began tracking home sales in 1963. According to the American Moving and Storage Association industry fact sheet, almost 50 percent of residential moves occur when families upgrade their homes (looking for more space) or buy their first home. Now that home sales are down, Americans are moving less, and some moving companies are suffering. [More]

Several states have instituted sales tax holidays this August, to give families a break while shopping for school supplies and to stimulate local economies. Many retail stores are offering special deals to coincide with tax-free days. Although the tax holidays are intended for back to school shoppers, many packing and organizing supplies, such as strapping tape and file folders, will be tax-free as well. People who are thinking of moving their files into storage, or decluttering a home in preparation for putting it on the market, may want to take advantage of the August tax-free holidays. [More]

Westy Self Storage, a self storage company with 16 locations throughout New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut, announced today that it has started a drive to collect materials to be used to clean up birds and animals affected by the BP oil spill cleanup. Donations can be dropped off at any of Westy’s locations. For the oil cleanup project, Westy is collaborating with another organization, the New Jersey Warehousemen and Movers Association (NJWMA). Westy will store each donation temporarily and then consolidate all the donations at its Stamford, Connecticut location. Then the NJWMA will transport the donations south. [More]

Fairfield County, Connecticut is experimenting with a new model for low income housing -- a housing development designed to appeal to professionals, with a fitness center and self storage facility on the premises. The new affordable housing development, called 80 Fair Street, opened this year in Norwalk. The self storage facility, United Storage Norwalk, donates all of its profits to charity. For example, this weekend, in one of its first events, United Storage Norwalk will host a flea market, to be held on Saturday from 11 to 4, and Sunday from 11 to 2. All the flea market profits will be donated to the Norwalk Emergency Shelter and the Norwalk Housing Foundation College Scholarship Fund. [More]

Residents of areas that are at high-risk of flood across the United States left their homes this week and moved as many of their possessions as they could into storage. The National Weather Service warned on Tuesday that one third of the contiguous United States is at high risk for “historic flooding.” In many areas, the flooding has already begun. [More]

Westy Self Storage, a self-storage company based in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York, announced today that its 16 self-storage sites supported 91 non-profit community organizations in 2009. In most cases, Westy donated storage space to be used for the collection of donations.

Most recently, the Chatham, NJ Westy Self Storage facility began collecting books, as it does every spring, for the annual book sale of the College Club, the Summit, Jew Jersey branch of the American Association of University Women. This year's sale will be held at the American Legion Hall in New Providence, from April 22-25, and will raise money to pay for college scholarships for area girls. Westy's Stamford, CT facility also began a donation drive this January, to benefit victims of the Haitian earthquake. [More]