A few months ago, Calm Order received a call from MKL Design Studios – one of their clients was in the middle of moving into a new home when a member of their family had a health emergency.
The clients were in the middle of two homes, with some of their belongings already in their new home, but the majority of their items still in their current home. Moving became a low priority in the midst of visiting the hospital and caring for their loved one.
When Calm Order received the news, Karen and her team jumped at the chance of giving a helping hand. Within a couple of hours of getting the call, Calm Order had assembled a team of organizers and movers, all willing to donate their time for free to help out the family. They also booked a time to start the moving and unpacking process to take place in the next couple of days and got to work with the preparations needed. This included doing a quick survey of the current and new home to develop a plan of action. In this time, Calm Order was also able to connect with the client to get a full picture of their move, lifestyle, and new home to develop the best organization plan for unpacking in their new home.
On the day of the move, the team started working at 9:00 a.m. including the owner of MKL Design Studios, her daughters, and a team from Get A Move On, which donated all the boxes and packing materials the team used throughout the move. Over 18 people in total came to help – and as Karen described, it was a true sense of the community coming together to help a fellow neighbour in their time of need.
The first step was to clear out the larger items that didn’t require packing, like larger furniture and appliances. The moving team got started on loading those items up and taking them to the new house, while the organizing team started to pack boxes with smaller household items. The first rooms the team focused on were the kitchen and the bedrooms, as these homes require the most time to unpack and organize. They’re also the most used and needed to be ready for the homeowners to use at the end of the day.
From here, part of the organizing team moved on to the new house to focus on unpacking while the rest of the team continued to pack up the rest of the house and the garage. In a matter of hours, the small but determined team had everything in the former house packed, moved, and unpacked to an organized state in the new house. The client was able to spend the morning and afternoon visiting their family member at the hospital and return to a finished house at the end of the day.
For everyone involved in the project, it was a pleasure to be able to help a fellow community member out. Moving can be a stressful process at the best of times but is the last thing on anyone’s mind when an emergency occurs. Calm Order and the rest of the team were happy to be able to help this individual and their family get unpacked in a new and organized home!
