By Isel Longoria
Contributing Writer
Meathead Movers has created a nonprofit foundation to provide free service to domestic violence survivors, and it’s recruiting other businesses to join the effort.
The moving company that employs college athletes on its trucks has developed partnerships with domestic-violence shelters through its #MovetoEndDV foundation.
Brothers Aaron and Evan Steed started Meathead Movers in 1997 in their hometown of San Luis Obispo, and the company has grown across the Central Coast. Some of its services include local and long-distance moving, residential and commercial moving, and a packing service called Princess Packers.
As the business grew throughout the years, the brothers noticed they were getting many phone calls from domestic violence survivors asking for help. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, one in four women and one in seven men have experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner.
“So, it does happen more often than anyone would like to see,” said Benjamin Spielman, the operations manager at the company’s Oxnard office.
When the Steed brothers saw the urgent need, they decided to team up with domestic-violence shelters to provide free moving services to survivors.
Aaron Steed writes that the purpose of the foundation is to encourage businesses to “commit to working with a local shelter to donate or provide a free product or service that will aid victims of domestic violence.”
Before becoming an operations manager, Spielman was a mover who helped move domestic violence survivors, and it affected him strongly.
He particularly remembers helping a woman from Camarillo.
“It was an emergency call at 2 in the afternoon when we had, me and my co-worker, had just got back to the warehouse and our manager at the time was like, ‘Hey, we have a DV move that you need to go out on,’” Spielman said.
When they arrived at the woman’s home, the police were there making sure everyone was safe. Spielman remembers hustling as fast as he could. When the move was completed, the woman expressed heartfelt gratitude to Spielman’s crew.
“She just broke down in tears and she was like, ‘Thank you so much,’” Spielman said. Having an opportunity to help others has changed his own life, he said.
“That will always stick in my mind as one of the best moves I had,” Spielman said, “I think it makes you a positive person (when)] you’re able to help someone like that.”
Meathead Movers continues to branch out to different locations and also partner with additional domestic violence shelters.
“Being able to work with like Interface (Children & Family Services) here in Ventura County and Good Shepherd (Shelter in Los Angeles) … our newest branches (are) making relationships with domestic violence shelters out there as well, so it’s been good that we’ve been able to provide this service,” Spielman said.
“The charity that we started has really helped show that you can do more for domestic violence survivors than just giving money. We can do what we do every day to help someone, and that’s super important in my mind,” he said.
“There is no limit to ways in which people and businesses can contribute to the needs of victims and survivors of domestic violence,” Aaron Steed wrote.
For more information on Meathead Movers’ services or their nonprofit #EndToMoveDV, visit www.meatheadmovers.com.
