LIHUE — A new mattress store on Kauai is helping people in need by donating mattresses to local nonprofit organizations.
BedMart donated 101 Tempur-Pedic mattresses to three Lihue organizations. The mattress company celebrated the grand opening Friday of its 5,000-square-foot retail store in the Hokulei Village Shopping Center in Puhi by giving back to community groups.
The new mattresses were donated to Women In Need, U.S. Veterans Initiative and Kauai Economic Opportunity to help furnish their transitional and emergency housing units.
The U.S. Veteran’s Initiative helps military veterans and their families with housing, counseling and comprehensive support.
“The success of our agency is based on the success of the veterans and their families whom we serve,” said Marina Buenrostro, case manager for U.S. Veterans Initiative.
“All of the veterans we work with are homeless, so we work on getting them into permanent housing,” she added. “With these donations we will be able provided them a bed as soon as they move in.”
Kauai Economic Opportunity works to alleviate poverty in the community by providing emergency shelter, transitional housing, homeless outreach and many other programs.
“We’re really honored to receive this generous gift,” said KEO Deputy Director Andrew Denny.“A lot of our clients and guests at our shelters and transitional housing really come from nothing, they have not a whole lot in their lives and are going through a lot of personal challenges as well.”
“To be able to receive something of truly great value will obviously help with not just sleep but also to improve their overall quality of life,” Denny added.
Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, BedMart is pleased to contribute to the Kauai community.
“We work with a number of organizations to give back to the community, it’s our way to connect and be a part of each place that we’re in business,” said BedMart President Steve Stone. “The people that we’re helping in need have a lot of stress in their lives anyway, and if we can provide a great night’s sleep, we’re taking one piece of concern out of the equation.”
Since 1992, BedMart has been a family owned and operated business with 38 stores throughout the Northwest. It has been in Hawaii for three years, serving Oahu, Kona, Kauai and Maui.
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John Steinhorst, reporter, can be reached at 245-0435 or jsteinhorst@thegardenisland.com.
