‘Life changing’: St. George moving company offers free services for victims of domestic violence

ST. GEORGE —As a St. George moving company approaches four years in business, the owners want the community to know they’re offering free moving services to victims of domestic violence.

Simple Moves' owners Kade and Breanna Cummings stand in front of their moving truck, St. George, Utah, May 15, 2022 | Photo by Jessi Bang, St. George News
Simple Moves’ owners Kade and Breanna Cummings stand in front of their moving truck, St. George, Utah, May 15, 2022 | Photo by Jessi Bang, St. George News

Starting from “nothing” and building both a successful and reputable business, Simple Moves owners Kade and Breanna Cummings said they now want to use that success to give back to others in a charitable and meaningful way.

Kade Cummings said the company contracts with the DOVE Center in St. George and Peace House in Park City, along with a few other confidential centers in Utah. These resources have assisted in finding those in need or those who are leaving difficult situations and don’t know where to turn.

Markee Pickett, communications manager at DOVE Center, said they are grateful Simple Moves offers clients this free service. She said they have encountered situations in which clients are moving to a new apartment or housing complex and they now are able to find movers to help their clients.

“This service will help make moving into a new environment less stressful,” Pickett said.

Simple Moves moving company works on a job, location and date unspecified, photo courtesy of Kade Cummings, St. George News
Simple Moves moving company works on a job, location and date unspecified, photo courtesy of Kade Cummings, St. George News

Cummings told St. George News that as an entrepreneur, he remembers just a few short years ago when he was simply trying to survive financially and launch his grassroots business. He’s grateful for the ability to switch that narrative and mindset to utilize company resources to give back to the community.

“We kept getting momentum from it and seeing a really awesome service that we could provide,” Cummings said about the pro bono work. “We have grown the business to where this is something we have always wanted to do – help anyone in need.”

Cummings said the first person they were able to help had reached out to them, explaining their situation and not asking for anything at all. He said it was clear that she had limited financial resources and that it was a high-stress situation. The woman also requested the moving company to be there at a specific time to move items while the police were present.

“That’s when I realized there’s a need for this,” Cummings said. “The client had gone back and forth and we really pushed to help and I think that push really compounded her life into something greater, allowing her to get out of that really bad situation.”

A desk at Simple Moves sits in the corner, St. George, Utah, May 15, 2022 | Photo by Jessi Bang, St. George News
A desk at Simple Moves sits in the corner, St. George, Utah, May 15, 2022 | Photo by Jessi Bang, St. George News

Cummings said Simple Moves has completed over 10 moves assisting those in need and their goal is to help as many people as possible. The company will never ask anyone their story before agreeing to help and does not judge or make opinions on anyone’s situation or story. He said while there are many reasons not to leave a bad situation, there’s ultimately one main reason they should: their safety. He also said Simple Moves does not have a rigid system in place for helping others and they want to help others who struggle in situations outside domestic violence as well.  

“Seeing the impact it has on people, we would much rather do this than any other move that we could ever get,” Cummings said as tears welled up in his eyes. “So we just need to find those people.”

Simple Moves pays their employees who work on the pro bono cases, but Cummings said he tells his employees if they ever want to do anything to give back to the community, they have the option to volunteer their time. He said that after experiencing a move like this, many of the employees have wanted to volunteer and asked not to be paid.

Cummings said they’d love to get as much momentum as possible and help as many people as they can while they have the resources they do. He said if he could speak directly to those who have been impacted by abuse or violence, he would tell them that they are not alone. There are many resources out there, and Simple Moves is now one of them. Breanne Cummings said that there are many people who don’t go through the centers of domestic abuse, so they may not be aware of Simple Moves’ free moving services, which is why speaking out to the public is so important. She also said the DOVE Center and Peace house have phenomenal resources and encouraged anyone to reach out to them if they are in need. 

“Here at Simple Moves, we’re offering free services to anyone who has suffered from domestic abuse,” Cummings said. “Any survivors out there that need help, please reach out to us. We would love to help you.”

About Simple Moves

Both Breanna and Kade Cummings said they grew up wanting to go to school to find their corporate jobs but their main goal was to find something that would make a difference in society. They shared the desire to help people in a charitable way, which was something they didn’t actually see within the moving industry early on.

A sign for Simple Moves hangs in a home office, St. George, Utah, May 15, 2022 | Photo by Jessi Bang, St. George News
A sign for Simple Moves hangs in a home office, St. George, Utah, May 15, 2022 | Photo by Jessi Bang, St. George News

Kade Cummings started Simple Moves when he had just left a design firm, where he ran a back warehouse. He said he saw St. George as a promising opportunity due to the growth and moved from Northern Utah to attend Dixie State in 2015. As a senior, he said those close to him questioned his reasoning for even considering getting into the moving industry, but he saw the need and pushed forward anyway.

Cummings said he and his wife opened Simple Moves in 2019 when they scraped together all the money they had and bought a pickup truck. He said he started doing small moving loads, from five boxes to 20 boxes and that the business continued to grow from there.

“There tends to be a negative stigma related to the moving industry including a lack of integrity and felt it was something I could change,” Cummings said. “Our goal was to become a reputable name that people could rely on and trust.”

Simple Moves now has 12 employees and four moving trucks. Cummings said they offer long-distance and local moving services for both residential and commercial properties. The company also offers a variety of other services, including a current landscaping job Cummings said his employees are currently working on with a dump trailer and diesel trucks. He said they do demolition, hauling, clearing spaces, downsizing, packing and more. 

“Our goal is to make a mark for ourselves and be different than any other moving company with the type of integrity and mission that we have,” Cummings said. “Our customers will never have to second-guess that and they can see that in our online presence. We have well over 250 five-star reviews across the board and not one negative review and we plan to keep it that way.”

Cummings said they look forward to continuing their services all over Utah and that later this year, they will be transitioning to a second location in Nothern Utah, where they plan to build a facility.

“‘We don’t want this to be something that can be misread as promotional for our business,” Cummings said. “This isn’t about us. This is a service we would love to provide and make people aware that it exists. Please don’t hesitate to call us. We’re here to help.”

Cummings said that as a moving company, they move people every day, so providing this free service is not a big deal for them, but for others, it could be life-changing. He hopes that anyone in need will not be afraid to utilize it.

To reach Simple Moves directly, call (435) 705-9241. For more information on Simple Moves’ services, visit their website.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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