The name of California moving company Meathead Movers might call to mind muscle-bound jocks, but there’s more to this moving company than the name suggests.
Meathead Movers employs student athletes from Central and Southern California, and now those muscle-bound jocks are helping victims of domestic violence find better lives.
Ever since 2001, when the company first partnered with the Women’s Shelter Program in San Luis Obispo, Meathead Movers has helped victims get settled into a women’s shelter. So far, the company has forged relationships with seven domestic violence shelters, including Good Shepherd, one of the oldest such shelters in Southern California.
When women need to escape a violent, abusive living situation, the company provides free moving services. And by partnering with local shelters, they can ensure the victims end up in a safe space where they can get the support and protection they deserve.
Brothers Aaron and Evan Steed launched their business in 1997, and they say they began their domestic violence program after witnessing the effects of abuse firsthand. Sadly, victims of domestic violence often lack the financial independence they would need to hire a moving company. And because 26% of movers have no family members living within an hour’s drive to help them move, victims are often stuck in dangerous situations.
The Steed brothers say women would desperately plead with them for help, and they would often have only hours to complete a move while an abuser was away from the home.
“One day, the situation turned volatile when the abuser came home in the middle of the move,” the brothers write. “It was then that Meathead Movers made the decision to partner with a local shelter to make sure that not only were the victims safe and supported through their transition, but the moving crew was safe, too.”
The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence reports that one in three women and one in four men will suffer physical violence in their lifetime.