Eastside movers will begin their 12th annual “Movers for Moms” campaign that will run from March 19 through May 9, gathering donations for The Sophia Way, a local women’s shelter.

The Two Men And A Truck franchise serves the Eastside and celebrates Mother’s Day every year with the charity campaign to donate toiletries, pillows, sheets, blankets, towels, robes, slippers and hair brushes for The Sophia Way. The Sophia Way serves local women who are victims of domestic violence at a Bellevue-based shelter. The two organizations have partnered for the campaign since 2017.

“The Movers for Moms program seeks to recognize moms in crisis on Mother’s Day by arranging delivery of gifts to women living in local shelters on the holiday weekend,” said John Phillips, spokesperson for the Eastside franchise. “In 2018, every Two Men And A Truck location participated and collectively gathered more than 300,000 donations for women living in shelters on Mother’s Day.”

The Eastside campaign alone gathered about 6,000 items in 2018 with help from businesses across the Eastside. Movers for Mom’s asks local businesses to host donation boxes that Two Men And A Truck drivers will drop off and pick up.

“Our office will handle all logistics between shelter partners, trucks, pick-ups, deliveries, etc,” Phillips said. “In addition, we’ll supply your organization with collection boxes, posters and literature about the program. We’ll also provide you with a list of items requested by the shelter to distribute to your members.”

The Eastside franchise, headquartered in Woodinville, serves most Eastside cities, including Bellevue, Kirkland, Mercer Island, Bothell, Kenmore, Redmond, Issaquah and Sammamish.

Originally, the Eastside franchise was headquartered in Kent before it merged with the Kirkland location and moved to Woodinville two years ago. The organization supported multiple shelters in the past and solidified a partnership with The Sophia Way when it moved to Woodinville.

“We know that women who have been in abusive relationships are particularly vulnerable.” Phillips said. “We have a heart for those people who are staying in women’s shelters because it’s not fair to them or to the children because of the relationship that resulted in this. It’s important for us to not only give back to the community in other ways, but we feel like this particular way is really interesting.”

The company also runs a donation campaign in the fall called Movers for Mutts which operates in the same way as Movers for Moms, but instead asks for donations for local animal shelters.