Company challenges employees to have fun giving back

The staff at Mr. Mover got into the holiday spirit last week and helped others in the process.

The Saukville company went to the Meijer store in Grafton on Dec. 13 to fill their “speed pack” moving carts with groceries that they delivered to Family Sharing’s food pantry afterward.

“It’s so heartwarming,” Office Manager Melissa Tesch said. “It’s amazing to hear how many families they are able to people and know we are part of that.”

The company donated more than 1,700 pounds of food and personal care items to Family Sharing this year as part of the holiday program.

The program, which started about six years ago, was the brainchild of owner Nick Meier and General Manager Luke Kazmierczak, who wanted to spearhead a program that would help the community.

They hit upon the idea of gathering food at a local grocery store and donating it to a local food pantry.

In the process, they turned the event into a company competition, Tesch said.

Each year the competition changes a little, she said.

This year, the company’s 16 full-time employees joined her, Meier and Kazmierczak for the event at the Meijer store.

“Our office assistant stayed at the office to hold down the fort,” Tesch said.

The employees brought large corrugated cardboard boxes mounted on wheels that are known as speed packs — used by Mr. Mover to pack large items that are difficult to box up for a move either because of their size or shape — to shop for items on a list of needs sent by Family Sharing.

The employees were split into four groups to shop for these items, Tesch said. The goal was to pack each box with as much food as possible without exceeding 400 pounds and while keeping the items level with the top of the speed pack.

The winning group this year came in at 420 pounds, she said, adding the other three groups exceeded the weight by a greater amount.

“The winner was the group closest to 400 pounds without going over it —wink, wink,” she said. “Even though everybody went over, the winner was the team that was closest.”

After Mr. Mover paid for the items, the employees loaded the more than 1,700 pounds of food and personal care items onto their truck and brought it to Family Sharing in Grafton.

There, they unloaded it, labeled it and put it in Family Sharing’s food pantry stock room.

It’s available to replenish the stock whenever Family Sharing runs low, Tesch said.

“We all have so much fun doing it,” she said. “It’s really gratifying to help out.”

The entire day is a lot of fun for the company, Tesch said,

“This company is like a big family. This allows us to meet new people and help the community all at one time,” she said.

This isn’t Mr. Mover’s only foray into helping the community. The company has helped pick up food for various food drives and taken part in Stuff the Bus, as well as Kapco’s Kids2Kids toy drive.