The team at Move For Hunger recently had the pleasure of speaking with Eleese Elliott of Mover Dudes, a Virginian moving company that has shown dedication to fighting hunger for quite some time. Eleese gave us insight on the company's efforts to end food insecurity and some personal anecdotes on what makes the cause so dear to her heart.
Working in Marketing and Company Outreach, Eleese is a great resource to exemplify why Mover Dudes has proven to be such a great fit for Move For Hunger: Over 6,000 people suffer from food insecurity today in Frederick County. Eleese grew up locally in Winchester, Virginia, and identified herself growing up as part of that statistic. She originally started her career in pharmaceuticals but along the way she found a niche in business. Throughout her time starting out with the local community, she had met the owner of Mover Dudes, Jon Eye, and noticed he was always doing something as far as giving back to the community. She had been working at the Chamber of Commerce and eventually made her big move over to Mover Dudes.
Upon starting her work at Mover Dudes, the moving industry was completely foreign to her. Coming in at the end of last May working in estimations and setting up moves, she was thrown into their peak season. As she began to get the hang of things, their timely coercion with Move For Hunger expanded a whole other aspect to their business that Eleese always felt passionately about: giving back.
Mover Dudes is a locally owned and operated moving company established in 2006 that has grown exponentially over the past four years. They have a unique customer service standard that stands out in the community. The greatest feedback of their company is that their customers have come back to say they felt they could always call the office and speak with somebody they know. Clients have called them from Wisconsin on Christmas Eve to move a kitchen island to Illinois for a family member because their customers trust them to be on the frontline of their family's lives. Since lots of their customers have the financial ability to pay for a mover, Eleese mentioned that they always make the opportunity to see if their customers would like to donate or have anything to share during the process of their move. Mover Dudes is making a monumental difference because there is so much food in the US and she sees the waste every day. In Eleese’s words, “we can help end that.” 1 in 6 people suffer from food insecurity in the state of Virginia, and Mover Dudes is on the move to help that.
Eleese recalled that when Hurricane Sandy happened, Jon got together a truck and put out the word to their local radio and news station that he would go around stuff a truck with whatever he could to help those who were affected. Within 12 hours, John collected 12,000 pounds of food and water. In Eleese’s words, that is the “life blood” of Mover Dudes. Mover Dudes advocates for Move For Hunger at local events and consults with many other local businesses to help get food drives started. They have been holding a food drive for this past month of September with the help of the Congregational Community Action Project (CCAP) that will end on October 16th. On the 18th, they will be doing a final “Stuff The Truck” to hopefully spread more awareness and get even more local businesses on board. The hunger cause is very near to her heart and by speaking with her, our love for the cause has grown exponentially.
