On a local and national scale, TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® Canada finds plenty of ways to give back
By Suzanne Bowness
It’s not so much how you give back, but that you do give back. That’s the message TWO MEN AND A TRUCK Canada uses to empower their franchisees to help their community. It’s even in their slogan: “Movers Who Care®.”
As the largest franchised moving company in North America, TWO MEN AND A TRUCK started in the early 1980s with two brothers who needed a way to make extra money in high school. Thirty years later, the company has over 400 locations worldwide, and moved into Canada in 2005, now with 30 locations. Straddling the U.S. and Canada means that the company has cross-border national charities; for instance, in the U.S., an initiative called Movers for Moms collects donations to deliver to women’s shelters each spring. In Canada, the company contributes to The Mikey Network, a charity focused on heart health and safety, and in 2022, the franchise participated in supporting Ukraine and the Ukrainian community in Canada.
“I often say, when it comes to giving back to the community, you can calculate the return on investment in [terms of] the warm and fuzzies,” says Chuck Resnick, chief operating officer of TWO MEN AND A TRUCK Canada. “I’ve always had an overriding belief that consumers expect that corporations give back to the community from which they prosper.”
But its charitable endeavours don’t stop there, and several additional local and Canada-wide programs further prove that the company doesn’t just have a truck: it has a heart.
Spreading awareness, improving access
One of TWO MEN AND A TRUCK’s Canada-wide partnerships started close to home: the venture capital firm that owns the company had a partner named Michael Salem, who passed away years ago from sudden cardiac arrest while playing golf. Wanting to honour his memory, his partners created The Mikey Network in 2003, both to raise public awareness about heart-healthy lifestyles as well as to place defibrillators across the country so that people who suffer a cardiac event can have a better chance at survival. (The Mikey Network website notes that defibrillators can increase the odds by up to 50 per cent.)
Today, over 3,000 MIKEYs (The Mikey Network’s term for public access defibrillators, also called automatic external defibrillators, or AEDs) have been placed in public spaces across Canada and the U.S., in locations such as school boards, recreational facilities, Royal Canadian Legion branches, art galleries, summer camps, and GO Transit stations in the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario. Every TWO MEN AND A TRUCK moving truck has a defibrillator on board through the Mikey On Board program, an initiative that places mobile MIKEY defibrillator units in vehicles that regularly travel throughout local communities. According to The Mikey Network, 6,500 people, including children and teens, experience sudden cardiac arrest every year in Ontario, and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada estimates that 60,000 episodes happen outside of hospitals each year across the country.
Another program within The Mikey Network is Mikey’s Kids, which helps families across the country who have children with congenital heart issues and whose physicians recommend they get an AED for their homes. Families can apply to receive a MIKEY from the organization for free (the kits cost around $2,000, and these children often need to have them at their side 24/7). The Mikey Network also expanded the Mikey Young at Heart program with an app that offers high school students the chance to earn volunteer hours by learning CPR/AED.
Brad Wheeler, a TWO MEN AND A TRUCK franchisee in Etobicoke, Ontario, knows first-hand the impact of this particular endeavour, and once he learned more, he was inspired to pay it forward, personally and professionally.
“One of my friends, an executive at Heathwood Homes (an affiliate of TWO MEN AND A TRUCK), was friends with Michael,” he says. “As soon as I knew that TWO MEN AND A TRUCK was involved in giving back, I took what they do on the corporate side, and I just knew that I could bring it to my whole community.
“I want to know that I can drive from every corner of my territory, and everyone will know that they can call upon me, not just to work. It’s not just the business transaction—they can call on me for help.”
Walking the walk
Helping is what Wheeler and his crew do best. Throughout the year, they undertake multiple charitable initiatives in the community. After all, as he says, without the community to support his franchise, they wouldn’t be in business.
From the annual Etobicoke-Lakeshore Santa Claus Parade from which all proceeds go to charity, to picking up and delivering furniture to women’s and youth shelters, to participating in book drives that benefit both local and overseas organizations, to the recent Coldest Night of the Year walk that raises funds for programs for the unhoused, Wheeler is always on the lookout for a new endeavour to join. And it’s not just for the exposure that these events provide his company—Wheeler says the feel-good aspect of his involvement is what drives him to engage in such a hands-on way.
“I always tell people I don’t want them to use our services because I give back to the community—I want you to use our services because we are good at what we do,” he explains. “No matter who you are, what you do, if you can make an impact on someone’s life, you will be spiritually better, emotionally better, and always have your head raised high.”
Resnick notes that giving back is actually a line item in the company’s budget, and that beyond the national charities that are championed by all franchisees, he also works with each franchisee to determine how much money to set aside for community giving. He encourages franchisees to give back to their local youth sports teams or even to pitch their own initiatives, which have produced some heartwarming community contributions. As an example, Resnick recalls the efforts of an Ottawa franchisee who in 2018 offered free moving services—including a crew on standby for a month—to anyone affected by the tornadoes that ripped through an Ottawa-Gatineau neighbourhood, as well as pick-up and delivery of donations to food banks. Another example is a franchisee in Calgary, Alberta, who has developed a relationship with a non-profit called The Mustard Seed that helps with homelessness and poverty reduction.
Besides the obvious benefit to the community, Resnick says that giving back also helps with employee engagement. “If I was working for somebody that was so given to giving back, that’s a good feeling. It gives them a good feeling for their employer and for the brand,” he says.
He adds that franchisees are also very good at sharing their efforts and getting people involved through platforms like Facebook and Instagram. And of course, the company is there to help with graphics and promotional support. “We make sure that they have a budget to give back to the community, and we want them to, but we don’t have to force them. They like to do it. They’re happy to do it, and it’s ingrained in our culture.”
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