Real Estate Agent | Ewing & Associates

Homeless Shelter’s Bustle in bad weather

Helping in the back of the shelter

By: Karen Crystal

When winter rains pound in Thousand Oaks and Westlake, where do the homeless find a place with a roof? The Lutheran Social Services’ winter homeless shelter in Thousand Oaks is one option. On December 1st, during one of our biggest winter storms, 20 people checked in for a hot meal and a dry place to lay down.

People struggling financially are urged to come to dinner once in a while to save some grocery money and avoid falling behind on rent.

The homeless can use a multitude of donations such as backpacks, hamburger gift coupons, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shaving cream, deodorant, shampoo, soap and razors. You can drop these items at, 80 E. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks. For more information, call (805) 497-6207.

EwingSIR does not guarantee information contained in this blog, readers are encouraged not to rely solely on this information and to do their own independent research of facts contained herein. Blog information was obtained from independent sources that we do not endorse, and we do not investigate this information for accuracy. Karen Crystal real estate agent Ewing and Sothebys.

A brief lesson in Lizard smuggling

By: Kyle Gulock

A multitude of obscure stories abound during desperate times. Combine this with an extraordinary passion for lizards, an airport and Australia and you truly get something unusual. After a Lomita man smuggled 15 lizards through LAX security in November, he now faces felony charges for smuggling wildlife into the U.S. With two geckos, two monitor lizards and 11 skinks strapped to his chest, Michael Plank allegedly attempted to transport the 15 live lizards into the States. He now faces a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines.