A Successful Weekend Working with Special Olympics MA Summer Games

This past weekend Olympia Moving’s crew donated their assistance to over 1800 Special Olympics athletes by moving them into their dorms. Over the past four years, volunteering for Special Olympics Summer Games has become a highlighted and anticipated event by our whole team. 

In addition, it was the first year Olympia Moving sponsored the “Are You Strong Than An Olympia Mover?” high-striker challenge in Olympic Town. With a continuous crowd of people watching one another test their strengths, this game was a big hit among the athletes, coaches and their fans!

In addition, Olympia Moving provided equipment transportation and event breakdown services as part of our role as the Official Logistics Sponsor.

Read our press release about Olympia Moving’s sponsorship of Special Olympics Massachusetts Summer Games.

To learn more about Olympia’s sponsorship of Special Olympics, visit olympiamoving.com/specialolympics

Olympia Moving Donates Heavy Lifting to Special Olympics Massachusetts Summer Games

Olympia Moving at last year's Special Olympics Massachusetts Summer Games Move-In
Olympia Moving at last year’s Special Olympics Massachusetts Summer Games Move-In

On Friday, the athletes of Special Olympics Massachusetts will be greeted by the professional movers of Olympia Moving & Storage as they arrive at one of their most anticipated events of the year: Summer Games. The Olympia Movers cheer the teams as they pull in before unloading the buses and moving them into their dorms for the weekend, bellhop style.

The move-in to Summer Games is just one part of Olympia Moving & Storage’s role as the official logistics sponsor of the event. This is the Boston moving company’s fourth year donating services to the competition for athletes with intellectual disabilities.

Special Olympics Massachusetts Summer Games takes place June 3 – 5 at the Harvard University Athletic Complex and Boston University. Over 2,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities across Massachusetts will come to Boston to compete in sports including track & field and athletics. The event strives to promote the athletes’ abilities instead of focusing on disabilities and encourages their health.

“Our movers look forward to greeting the athletes at Summer Games each year,” says Michael Gilmartin, President of Olympia Moving & Storage. “During our past four years of sponsorship with Special Olympics Massachusetts, we’ve found that the athletes’ determination and positive attitudes inspire our team.”

“Special Olympics Massachusetts is grateful to the great staff of Olympia who volunteer their time to give our athletes a great weekend every June and for all they do year round to support our program,” says Matt Ruxton, Vice President of Sports at Special Olympics Massachusetts. “Their great staff that is willing and ready to do anything to make our events go as easy and smooth as possible.”

In addition to athlete move-in, Olympia Moving & Storage provides equipment transportation, move-out, and break-down assistance to Summer Games. The donation is part of the company’s year-round sponsorship of Special Olympics Massachusetts. Last year the Boston moving company donated over $50,000 in monetary and logistics donations to the organization

To learn more about Olympia’s sponsorship of Special Olympics, visit olympiamoving.com/specialolympics

Olympia Moving Delivers Toys to the Big Wishes Gift Drive

Congrats to Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage of New England for filling TWO Olympia Moving & Storage trucks full of gifts and toys for The Home for Little Wanderers Big Wishes Gift Drive!

The generous agents & communities around Coldwell Banker offices collected the thousands of gifts including laptops and bikes!  The gifts will go to needy families in the Boston area in The Home’s care, making their holiday seasons a little brighter.

Olympia Moving & Storage donates logistics assistance to the drive every year, picking up the gifts from the Coldwell Banker offices and delivering to the Home for Little Wanderer’s Toy Room in Rosindale.  Coldwell Banker has filled an Olympia Moving truck with gifts every year, so our crew was pleasantly surprised to discover that the gift drive would require two trucks this year!

We got this note of thanks from the Facilities Coordinator at Coldwell Banker:

We want to thank you for your help again with this year’s toy drive! As you probably know, this year we had two full trucks of toys to donate (the most ever!) and it would not have been possible without Olympia’s help! Deb even said that we donated more toys than Walmart and Bernie & Phyl’s. There will be a lot of happy children this Holiday season! Again, thank you for everything you do for CBRB and Happy Holiday’s!

We hope the families that receive these will have a brighter Christmas! More on Olympia Moving & Storage’s community involvement:

Olympia Moving at Touch-the-Trucks Events

Boston Moving Company Participates in Touch-the-Trucks Events in Watertown and Dedham

The Olympia Moving crew enjoyed showing kids around the moving truck at two recent touch-a-truck events. The crew returned to Watertown Family Network’s Touch-a-Truck in Watertown, MA and joined the first Touch-the-Trucks event at Legacy Place in Dedham, MA.

Touch-the-Trucks events are a great opportunity for Olympia Moving & Storage to connect with families in the community. The kids enjoyed running up and down the ramp, seeing the boxes and moving equipment, and jumping on the bubble wrap that we laid on the floor of the truck. The Olympia Moving crew members gave kids tours of the truck cab, took photos of the kids posing at the wheel, played box toss games, and handing out coloring pages.

Check out this video of the kids enjoying the truck!

If you have a Touch-the-Trucks or another community event event in the Boston-area or Washington, DC-area, let us know at [email protected]. We’d love to attend!

Does your family need a moving company? Call 800.222.4744 or request a free moving estimate online.

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Special Olympics Athlete Amanda Church Speaks at Boston Moving Company Sales Meeting

Amanda Church shows off her Special Olympics World Games medals with Olympia Moving & Storage Founder & President Michael Gilmartin
Amanda Church shows off her Special Olympics World Games medals with Olympia Moving & Storage Founder & President Michael Gilmartin

Olympia Moving & Storage was proud to feature Special Olympics athlete Amanda Church as a guest speaker at our bi-annual sales meeting in October. The Boston moving company was the sponsor of Amanda’s trip to compete in the 2015 Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles this summer.

Amanda gave a speech at the sales meeting, sharing her extraordinary experiences at World Games. Amanda’s told Olympia Moving about her training, staying in the Olympic village, being on ESPN during the Opening Ceremonies, meeting Michael Phelps, and of course swimming her events and the amazing moment of being awarded her medals on the podium.

She also gave Olympia Moving inspiring insights on how Special Olympics World Games is changing how the world views people with intellectual disabilities:

“The World Games showcased not just how capable people with intellectual disabilities are in athletics but also in life. I think the World Games really changed how people think about people with intellectual disabilities. That’s the whole reason for R-Word campaign. This word I believe should be removed from all books, TV, movies, everywhere. It is hurtful to not only people with disabilities but to everyone else all over the World. Some people who hear this word take it so bad that they can lose their self-esteem, not want to go to school or work, or worse. I would like everyone to stop anyone who says this to anyone and remind them what the R-Word means to them and how it affects others whether you have a disability or not. This word needs to be removed from our vocabulary.” – Amanda Church, Special Olympics World Games Athlete

Amanda also showed off her medals: a Silver Medal for the 200 meter breaststroke and a Bronze medal for the 4 by 50 freestyle relay. She was also kind enough to thank Olympia Moving for the sponsorship during her speech:

“I trained very hard to reach my goal, but I could not have done it without the support of my coach’s, family, and friends; but most importantly the support of all of you at Olympia. You gave me the best gift of all which was helping me get to Worlds with a $5,000 donation, and for that I thank you. I hope Olympia will continue to keep supporting Special Olympics, and come to Summer Games year after year.” – Amanda Church, Special Olympics World Games Athlete

Learn more about our sponsorship of Amanda.

Run to Boston Piano 5K Challenge

Piano 5K ChallengeThe Olympia Moving & Storage Piano 5K Challenge

Boston moving company challenges runners as part of the Run to Boston Race Series to benefit Special Olympics Massachusetts

When Olympia Moving & Storage, a premier Boston moving company, heard about the Run to Boston Race Series to benefit the athletes of Special Olympics Massachusetts, we wanted to try an extra challenge in the Special Olympics spirit of pushing our limits.  The Olympia Moving crew are export Boston piano movers, relocating pianos in Massachusetts daily without a scratch.  Could our team safely move a piano…while running a 5K?  It sounded crazy enough to try, so the Olympia Moving & Storage Piano 5K Challenge was born!

Team Olympia Moving & Storage collaborated with Special Olympics Massachusetts to complete the challenge.  The proof that Olympia Moving & Storage, expert Boston piano movers, can move a piano while running a 5K and keep the instrument in flawless condition is below!

Olympia Moving & Storage’s Piano 5K Challenge final time was 32:28!

Olympia Moving & Storage Challenges “Run to Boston” Runners!

Now it’s your turn to take part in the challenge!  Don’t worry, we won’t make you push a piano, but we do challenge you to beat our time during the Run to Boston 5K races!

All Run to Boston Race Series runners who beat Olympia’s piano 5K time (32:28) will be automatically entered to win a FitBit!  No raffle tickets, no pianos, just sign up for one of these three races and RUN!

All three races are holiday-themed, a lot of fun, and best of all, race proceeds fund sports training and competitions for athletes with intellectual disabilities!

There will be 3 FitBit winners total, one per race.  Winners will be randomly selected among runners with finish times below 32:28.  The winning runners will be contacted after the race.

The Olympia Moving & Storage Piano 5K Challenge is part of our year-round sponsorship of Special Olympics Massachusetts.  The Boston moving company donates logistics services to dozens of Special Olympics Massachusetts competitons and fundraisers annually, and fund raises for the organization.  To learn more about our work with Special Olympics Massachusetts visit https://www.olympiamoving.com/specialolympics

Boston Moving Company Offers Scholarships to Students

Olympia Moving & Storage, proudly announced the Olympia Scholars Program this week, offering scholarships to student movers. olympia scholars

The scholarship program, which is available to all current and prospective Olympia Moving & Storage employees, allows motivated student movers to earn thousands of dollars in scholarships in addition to a top hourly wage.

For many Boston-area college students, working between classes is essential to paying for tuition, books, and living expenses.  Most students get jobs swiping IDs at the gym, pouring coffee, or scanning groceries.  But for some Boston students, they earn money by carrying armoires up fourth-floor walkups in the Back Bay between classes.  Michael Gilmartin, President and Founder of Olympia Moving & Storage, used to be one of these students.

“While I studied at Northeastern University, I earned money by working at a local moving company,” says Gilmartin, who founded Olympia Moving & Storage in 1993.  “At the time, I liked working as a mover because it was a great opportunity to earn higher wages than the average student while staying in shape. Little did I know it would become a career.”

Michael Gilmartin’s company, Olympia Moving & Storage has been employing Boston-area college students for over 20 years.

olympia movers“Students who work with Olympia Moving & Storage quickly learn that working here is a
bout more than just a paycheck and lifting furniture,” says Gilmartin.

  “Movers learn valuable lessons in problem solving, team work, and client management that they will use for the rest of their careers.”

After he graduated from Northeastern University, Michael Gilmartin put the skills he learned as a student mover to use and founded his own company. Since then, he has brought hired many of his student movers as operations managers, sales managers, and more.

“It’s always been fulfilling to see our student movers succeed after graduation, either with Olympia Moving or in engineering, sales, entrepreneurship, and many other careers with other companies,” says Gilmartin. “We wanted to expand that Olympia Moving & Storage tradition by directly investing in our student movers’ education. Student movers are extremely motivated and hardworking, you have to be to move furniture for eight hours straight. These are the kind of students we want to invest in, as they have the skills to succeed.”

Up to 15 Olympia Moving employees per year are eligible to participate in the Olympia Scholars program.  The scholarship recipients will earn a $1,000 scholarship per every 1,000 hours worked and can earn a maximum of four scholarships during their education.  The scholarship is available to employees actively pursuing degrees at universities, community colleges, and trade schools.

For more eligibility details, and to apply to become a student mover in the Olympia Scholars program, visit http://www.olympiamoving.com/olympiascholars or call 617-517-9878.

Olympia Moving Pulls 82 Ton Airplane to Fundraise for Special Olympics Virginia

The 2015 Dulles  Plane Pull on Saturday was the biggest Plane Pull yet in terms of fundraising, plane pull teams, and attendance. The event raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Special Olympics Virginia athletes and 71 teams participated. For the first time, the event featured two planes being pulled!

As the Official Logistics Sponsor, Olympia Moving & Storage worked closely with event organizers at Special Olympics Virginia to make Dulles Plane Pull a success. The Washington, DC moving company donated crews, trucks, and warehousing to manage the equipment, set up, and breakdown.

For the first time, Olympia Moving ran an “Are You As Strong As An Olympia Mover?” fundraising game. Hundreds of athletes, kids, moms, dads, and even monks tried to hit the bell on the high striker to prove their strength.

Of course, the Olympia Moving crew was also eager to prove their strength and fundraised to pull the 82 ton airplane.  The crew pulled the plane 10 feet in 6.194 seconds – our best time yet!

Thank you to the generous partners to Olympia Moving & Storage who donated to our plane pull team!  All the money we raised will provide free sports training and competitions for athletes with intellectual disabilities:

To see team Olympia Moving & Storage pull the plane and all the other plane pull excitement, be sure to check out this video.  We look forward to sponsoring Dulled Plane Pull again next year!

Visit olympiamoving.com/specialolympics to learn more about our ongoing work and charitable partnership with Special Olympics.

DC Moving Company Sponsors Dulles Day Plane Pull

Olympia and Plane PullOn Saturday, Olympia Moving & Storage, a premier Washington, DC moving company, will sponsor the Dulles Day Plane Pull. This is Olympia Moving’s third year as the official logistics sponsor for this event to benefit Special Olympics Virginia.

During the week leading up to the Plane Pull, Olympia Moving has been busy receiving event supplies, managing pick ups and deliveries of event equipment, and assisting with set up and break down. All these services are donated free of charge to Special Olympics Virginia. This year, the moving company will be running a fundraising game “Are You Stronger Than an Olympia Mover?” Event attendees and children will have the chance to hit the bell on a high striker and win a prize. All proceeds from the game will benefit Special Olympics Virginia.

The Olympia Moving crew will also be participating in the Plane Pull and will pull a 164,000+ pound Airbus 12 feet in support of athletes with intellectual disabilities. The crew will be looking to beat last year’s pull time of 7.01 seconds. Olympia Moving & Storage has been fundraising for the Plane Pull over the past month, and would like to thank their following partners for their generous donations to their campaign:

The Olympia Moving crew has even been pulling their trucks in their yard to practice for pulling the plane!

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The Dulles Day Plane Pull is a popular event for Northern Virginia families and continues to grow.  Last year over 30,000 people attend the Plane Pull, and for the first time the 2015 Plane Pull will feature 2 planes for teams to attempt pulling!

It’s not too late to donate to team Olympia Moving! Click here to donate and fund competitions, sports training, and health programs for athletes with intellectual disabilities. 

Olympia Moving & Storage has been a charitable partner to Special Olympics Virginia and Massachusetts since 2013. Last year the Washington, DC moving company’s in-kind and monetary donations to Special Olympics organizations totaled almost $50,000. Earlier this year, Olympia Moving & Storage also sponsored Special Olympics athlete Amanda Church’s trip to World Games in Los Angeles. There she competed and won silver and bronze medals in aquatics. Visit olympiamoving.com/specialolympics to learn more about our sponsorship.

Olympia Moving Recognized at Red Sox Game for Sponsorship of Special Olympics

Special Olympics Massachusetts took Olympia Moving out to the ballgame on August 20th and we were in for a surprise during the Red Sox pre-game! CEO Michael Gilmartin and his son, VP of Sales & Marketing Piet Gauchat, and Marketing Manager Rachael Fischer from Olympia Moving & Storage were brought onto the field to be recognized for our support of Special Olympics Massachusetts. Olympia Moving was presented an award by World Games athlete Amanda Church, Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino, and Wally the Green Monster.

L-R Rachael Fischer (Olympia Marketing Manager), Piet Gauchat (Olympia Vice President of Sales), Michael Gilmartin and his son Andrew (CEO of Olympia Moving & Storage), Amanda Church (Special Olympics World Games athlete), Larry Lucchino (CEO of the Boston Red Sox) and Wally the Green Monster!
Thank you Special Olympics for this recognition and this beautiful plaque!
Thank you Special Olympics for this recognition and this beautiful plaque!

Here’s a video of this memorable moment in Fenway Park:

After the presentation, Olympia Moving watched the Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 4-1! Olympia Moving & Storage has been a Boston moving company for over 20 years, so it was a very special night indeed!

Thank you Special Olympics Massachusetts for this wonderful honor – we love working with you!

Olympia Moving & Storage has been the official logistics partner for Special Olympics Massachusetts since 2013. Last year, Olympia Moving’s monetary and in-kind logistics donations totaled almost $50,000. This summer, Olympia Moving also sponsored World Games athlete Amanda Church, you can read about her experience competing with 7,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities in her training blogs on the Olympia website. You can learn more about our work with Special Olympics and make a donation to these amazing athletes at https://www.olympiamoving.com/specialolympics