Toys for Tots Campaign at ezStorage Update

Posted on December 5, 2013 by ezstoragecorp

ezStorage is proud to be partnering with Toys for Tots for their toy collection campaign. We kicked off the campaign in early November and we had a great response from our customers!

Woodbridge getting ready for Toys for Tots

As a reminder, the following ezStorage locations in Maryland and Virginia have drop-off boxes for the Toys for Tots campaign:

In Maryland:

Bel Air Dale City Odenton

Beltsville Gaithersburg Pasadena

Bowie Glen Burnie South Bowie

Capitol Heights Lanham Westminster

Columbia Laurel

In Virginia:

Chantilly Reston Sterling

Gainesville Woodbridge

After just a few days of the launch of the 2013 campaign, the Columbia and Beltsville locations doubled their amount of toy donations!

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You can find out more information about Toys for Tots in our recent blog post.

Thank you to everyone who has already donated to the campaign! For those that are still waiting to donate new and unwrapped toys, you still have time to drop them off at the listed ezStorage locations. The last day of collection is December 21^st.

Washington D.C. Lights up the Holiday Season

Posted on December 3, 2013 by ezstoragecorp

The nation’s capital will celebrate the holiday season with two separate holiday tree lighting ceremonies: The Capital Tree Lighting and The National Tree Lighting Ceremonies. The Capitol Tree Lighting Ceremony will take place on Tuesday, December 3^rd at 5pm on the West Lawn of the United States Capital building. The 24 foot tree, which was planted in 1969, will be lit by Speaker of the House, John Boehner. There will also be music provided by the United States Marine Band and carols sung by the Congressional Chorus.

The second tree lighting event is the National Tree Lighting, which takes place Friday, December 6^th on the Ellipse, near the White House. The event starts at 4:30 and can be viewed online via the website or on your local PBS stations. President Obama and Mrs. Obama and their family will have the honor of lighting the tree, which was designed and decorated by GE Lighting. There is an extensive list of entertainment for the event including: Mariah Carey, Aretha Franklin, Train, Avett Brothers, Joshua Bell, Jane Lynch, Renee Fleming, Arturo Sandoval and many more. The tickets to the event were given out during an online lottery. You must have a ticket in order to be allowed to enter the lighting ceremony.

In conjunction with the ceremony, President Eisenhower created the “Christmas Pageant of Peace” in 1954. This includes the “Pathway of Peace” with smaller decorated trees representing each of the 50 states, 5 US territories and the District of Columbia. Each of the trees have special handmade ornaments from organizations representing each state. There is also 3 weeks of nightly entertainment featuring local, regional and national performers spreading holiday cheer through music. Next to the “Pathway of Peace” is Santa’s Workshop, where young and old can visit Santa and his elves as they prepare toys for children of all ages.

The first National Tree Lighting Ceremony took place in 1923, when President Calvin Coolidge lit a 48 foot tree decorated with over 2500 lights. The ceremony continued to the beginning of World War II and was re-started at the end of the war in 1945 and has been going on continuously ever since. The current tree, a 40 foot Colorado blue spruce was transplanted from York, Pennsylvania in 1978 by President Jimmy Carter. Today, the tree has over 20,000 LED energy-efficient lights and is quite the sight to behold.

The National Tree Lighting Ceremony and Capitol Tree Lighting Ceremony rings in the holiday season. Enjoy the fun, holiday cheer and festivities of these two great events!

Thanksgiving Activities in the Maryland, Washington DC and Northern Virginia Areas

Posted on November 26, 2013 by ezstoragecorp

The holiday season “officially” arrives this week with Thanksgiving. It is time for giving thanks, family, football and traditions. The Baltimore Ravens are playing the Pittsburg Steelers for their first ever Thanksgiving Day game at M & T Bank Stadium. Shoppers will be prepping their strategy for the Black Friday sales and where to visit for Small Business Saturday.There are so many things to do to celebrate the holiday and kick off the holiday season in the Washington D.C., Maryland and Northern Virginia area.

To start off the holiday on a healthy note, you can participate in the many Turkey Trots in the area. In Washington D.C., there is the SOME (So Others Might Eat) Turkey Trot that benefits the homeless in the D.C. area. The Y of Central Maryland is sponsoring Turkey Trots in 5 Maryland cities this year: Baltimore City, Bel Air, Catonsville/Ellicott City, Towson, and Westminster. All of the races will begin at 8:30am. You can register for the race in-person on the day of the race.

There is not an official Thanksgiving Day parade in the nation’s capital, but Reston, Virginia hosts the Reston Town Center Holiday Parade on Friday, November 29^th. This parade has Macy’s parade style balloons, musical groups, dancers, antique cars and a visit by Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus. There are horse-drawn carriage rides, a holiday tree lighting ceremony and a sing-along with a chorus.

Hanukkah will be starting at sundown on Wednesday, November 27^th and ends on December 5^th. There are many events in the area celebrating this holiday. The lighting of the National Menorah takes place on the Ellipse on November 27^th.

The weekend after Thanksgiving is the kick-off of to many local holiday tradition events. The Miracle on 34^th Street will light up on November 30^th and festivities run through the holiday season. The National Harbor Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony is Friday November 29^th at Waterfront Plaza near the Potomac River. The 60ft tree is decorated with over 20,000 lights. There will be music, storytelling for the entire family and fireworks. The lighting also signals the start of the Gaylord National Resort ICE! Holiday Show. This interactive holiday display has over 5000 blocks of ice hand sculpted by 40 international artisans, craftsmen and designers. The United States Botanical Gardens will light up the season with “Season’s Greetings”, their annual display of toy trains, miniature villages and decorated trees. . The Inner Harbor in Baltimore is launching its first Annual Christmas Village at West Shore Park November 28 through December 24^th. Visitors can stroll through the indoor/outdoor traditional German Christmas marketplace to find unique gifts and ideas.

There are so many things to do to start off your holiday season! ezStorage wishes everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving. Our facility’s gates will be open to access your storage unit during regular hours on Thanksgiving. However, our offices will be closed on Thanksgiving day. The offices will reopen on Friday, November 29^th.

Welcome to the New ezstorage.com!

Posted on November 21, 2013 by ezstoragecorp

Welcome to the recently launched new www.ezstorage.com! We are excited about the new look!

ezStorage’s new homepage

First and foremost, the website continues to offer the same great information and ease of use ezStorage customers have come to know and expect. Our goal in creating the new site was to make it even easier for customers to find their nearest ezStorage locations, provide them the tools and information that they need to determine just what unit size works for them and then, make it even easier to reserve a storage unit.

Let’s take a walk through just a few of the changes that we made to the website. The homepage has a fresh new look with a more sophisticated search capability offering up your closest ezStorage locations and displaying unit sizes in easy to understand groupings. We also incorporated our various social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter, and our Blog, right on the homepage in the section we call “ezconnect”.

ezStorage location page

A little more about finding your local ezStorage-our locations can be filtered to display just Maryland and Virginia locations. Once filtered, you’ll see a photo of each location, and the grouping of units sizes from small to medium to large storage units. Simply click on a specific location, and drill down even further to find storage units in multiple sizes and a variety of other information including the address, gate hours and office hours of your local ezStorage.There’s even an interactive map which will suggest alternate ezStorage locations.

Our home page will also lead you to a variety of other information about our state-of-the-art security, climate controlled storage units, resident managers, and RV/boat parking at select locations.

If you are looking for more information about ezStorage or have questions about the storage process, click on the resources tab. This tab houses information on ezStorage special offers, storage articles, FAQ’s and a list of the packing and moving supplies that are offered at every facility. You can also contact our corporate office or a specific ezStorage location via the Contact Us tab. Set up your own ezStorage online account to pay your rental bill securely and safely.

Stop by and check out the new www.ezstorage.com today! It is a fresh look at all of ezStorage’s great services.

ezStorage Helps with Toys for Tots 2013 Holiday Campaign

Posted on November 14, 2013 by ezstoragecorp

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ezStorage is proud to be participating in the 2013 Toys for Tots holiday campaign. This year, 19 ezStorage locations will have collection boxes for new and unwrapped toys for children in the community. Our Westminster location at 1200 Baltimore Ave in Westminster, Maryland has donated a storage unit for the collection of the toys for this year’s campaign.

You can drop off your donations to the following ezStorage facilities:

In Maryland:

Bel Air Dale City Odenton

Beltsville Gaithersburg Pasadena

Bowie Glen Burnie South Bowie

Capitol Heights Lanham Westminster

Columbia Laurel

In Virginia:

Chantilly Reston Sterling

Gainesville Woodbridge

Last year, ezStorage helped collect a large amount of toys for the Toys for Tots campaigns thanks to donations from our customers! The storage unit in Westminster was filled at least once and was close to being filled a second time before the campaign ended. The 2012 national Toys for Tots campaign was extremely successful with over $16.7 Million in collected toys! The campaign also received donations from corporate sponsors, website donations and direct mail solicitations.

Toys for Tots is a non-profit charity created by the United States Marines Reserves to collect toys and then distribute them to less fortunate children. The program started in 1947 with World War II veterans in Los Angeles. Currently, there are toy collection campaigns in 745 communities in all 50 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. As in the past, there are many corporate sponsors of the holiday toy drive including: Toys R Us, Babies R Us, Hasbro, UPS Store, and Build-a-Bear just to name a few. In 2012, the program distributed $16.7M worth of toys to over 7 Million less fortunate children. The program partners with local social welfare agencies, church groups and other local community agencies to distribute the toys to the children for Christmas.

There are many ways to donate to Toys for Tots. You can drop off a toy to a collection box or make a donation via the Toys for Tots website. If you can’t make it to the select ezStorage facilities to drop off your donation, you can also find other places on your community that are collection sites for the campaign. Keep up-to-date with the 2013 holiday drive via the Toys for Tots Facebook Page or Twitter page.

ezStorage thanks everyone for their donations to this great and worthwhile organization.

It’s Time for the Maryland Irish Festival

Posted on November 7, 2013 by ezstoragecorp

In May, we listed the many cultural and ethnic festivals that are held in the Baltimore, Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia areas throughout the spring, summer and fall. It’s November and so now it’s time for the Maryland Irish Festival at the Maryland State Timonium Fairgrounds! The festival is a celebration of Irish culture with local, regional and international Irish music performers from traditional to Celtic Rock, Irish Dancers, Irish food, cultural and informational exhibits and workshops and a wide variety of vendors selling all types of Irish goods. There is also a children’s play area with bouncy castles, activities and games for the entire family.

The Irish were one of the first settlers in Maryland when the colony was founded in 1634. Most Irish immigrants came to Maryland and specifically the Baltimore area as refugees from the potato famine that devastated Ireland starting in the 1840’s. Irish immigrants became fireman, policemen, railroad workers and domestic workers and became an integral part of the building blocks of the United States. The Maryland Irish Festival has been paying tribute to these (and our) Irish ancestors for over 30 years. The proceeds of the festival are donated to the Irish Charities of Maryland and all of the members and workers of the festival are volunteers.

There are 3 stages for music, dance and entertainment at the Festival: Harp Stage, Guinness Stage and Tullamore Dew Stage. There will be Irish dance performances, pipe & drum corps, special educational seminars on Irish genealogy, instruments and even Irish rebel songs! There will be performances by Barley Juice, Kilmaine Saints, Shamrogues, Scythian, Moxie Strings and Bogside Rogues throughout the weekend. Check out the schedule for specific times and stages on the website.

This year is the inaugural year for the Kilts and Craic 5K Run, which is being held at 8am on Sunday, November 10^th. There is also an Irish Baking Contest for traditional soda bread, scones and cakes that go with the Irish theme. There is a music competition for multiple age groups, who have to perform 2 contrasting types of music including jigs, reels, marches, polkas, and slides to just name a few. Another first this year is the whiskey tasting provided by Irish whisky maker, Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey. There will be over 100 vendors featuring Irish foods, gifts, traditional art, jewelry and much more! The vendors will be in the North and South Halls.

To find out more up-to-date information about the Maryland Irish Festival, check out the event’s Facebook Page and Twitter Pag e. Slainte!

9 Tips to Prepare Your RV for Winter Storage

Posted on October 31, 2013 by ezstoragecorp

The leaves are falling off the trees, the weather is starting to cool down and the official travel season is over for the eastern part of the country. It is now the time to make preparations to store your camper or RV. We had shared tips on how to prepare your boat for the off-season in an earlier blog post. There are also certain steps that need to be followed to make your RV and trailer ready for storage. Similar to boat storage, some people opt to store their trailers, campers or RVs in their driveways. If there is not enough room to do that, consider parking your RV at a self storage facility. ezStorage has 9 facilities in Maryland that offer RV parking spaces: Arbutus/Maiden Choice, Bel Air, Columbia/Jessup/North Laurel, Highlandtown/Canton, Owings Mills/Reistertown, Pasadena/Glen Burnie, Randallstown, Rosedale/White Marsh/Essex, and South Bowie/Upper Marlboro.

The most important thing to do when putting your vehicle into storage is to make sure that your registration, insurance and license plates are current and renewed. Some storage facilities will require proof of insurance when you are storing a RV. When you are putting your RV into storage for the winter, there are certain preparations that need to be made to keep the vehicle in good working order and ready for the next travel season.

1. Take the RV out for one last drive to listen for any engine problems, knocks or pings. Walk around the vehicle as well as climb on the roof to inspect all parts for broken antennae, awnings, seals, etc.

2. Thoroughly clean the RV inside and out. If you have the time, wax the vehicle starting from the top down. Remove all food from the vehicle. Vacuum the interior, wipe down counters and cabinets.

3. Remove the battery from the vehicle if you are storing for an extended period of time (more than a few months). Keep the battery on a maintenance charger and store in a dry, cool and ventilated space such as your garage. Also, check and fill the water level in the battery.

4. Disconnect all air conditioning connects and clean out the air filters.

5. Defrost and clean out the refrigerator. Add baking soda to absorb any odors. Leave the refrigerator door open during storage to allow for air circulation.

6. Prior to storage, change the oil and oil filter prior to storage. Fill the fuel tank and add a fuel stabilizer, based on the manufacturer’s recommendation. If you battery is staying in the vehicle in storage, start the engine every couple of months to help prevent moisture build-up.

7. Close the windows and blinds in the vehicle to prevent intense sun exposure that can damage the fabrics and fade the carpet.

8. Remove dry cell batteries from flashlights, clocks and other devices and replace them when you are ready to travel again.

9. If possible,cover the tires with protective tarps and if possible, cover the entire RV with a breathable tarp that is specially made for the vehicle. The coverings will help protect the RV from the elements during the winter months.

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