Mennonite Central Committee News Service
March 22, 1974
WEE-MOVE BIG HELP TO ATLANTA POOR
Atlanta, Ga.--Wee-Move, an unusual furniture-moving
business organized over a year ago by Mennonite Central Committee
volunteers in Atlanta, is meeting a real need of the poor and
elderly in that city.
"We end up helping people caught
in a crunch--families who are evicted because they can't pay
rent and elderly people on fixed incomes who can't afford a moving
service," explained Vernon King, MCC Atlanta director who
managed the operation between the termination of former manager
Karl Held and the arrival of the new manager, J. Robert Hurst,
Ephrata, Pa.
Wee-Move, set up as a nonprofit business,
averages two moves a day and takes in close to $1,000 a month.
"We charge twelve dollars an hour for
two people and a truck," King said. "We adjust the
price for people unable to pay this rate. Sometimes an elderly
person or a young divorced woman will have no money but a house
full of furniture. In those cases we have accepted furniture
as payment and turned it over to a charity organization."
Thirty percent of the furniture moves are
for people who pay less than twelve dollars. Ten percent of the
jobs are referrals from government and religious social welfare
agencies.
"We learn a lot about family relationships
and lifestyles when moving furniture," King said. "And
Wee-Move has helped volunteers become an integral part of several
Atlanta neighborhoods."
Wee-Move began when a local service agency
asked Mennonite volunteers
to help destitute families pick up their furniture off the street
when they were evicted from their apartments. At first volunteers
took the seats out of the unit van and made numerous trips. One
year ago MCC purchased a truck for the moving work.
"We deliver a lot of beds to public
housing units," King said. "I remember one family who
had nothing to sleep on. They spent the first night on a concrete
floor."
Through an ad Wee-Move placed in an
Atlanta want-ad book, jobs have come from all over the city.
"But a lot of our clientele are friends of people we formerly
moved," King added. "Last summer we moved some people
into a new high-rise building for the elderly and got to know
a lot of people there. They were excited about our service and
would tell the next couple coming in."
Wee-Move is now looking for a local person
to hire as a Wee-Move assistant.
Gayle Gerber Koontz, MCC Information Services
22march1974