Area Businesses Pull Together for Ayer Resident
August 17, 2011 - Ayer, MA

This week Karen Strickland, President of Ayer Moving & Storage, presented Ayer resident Monica Jorge with a Welcome Basket of gifts donated by area businesses.  Jorge recently was the recipient of a custom-built home from The Nate Berkus Show (paid for by Oprah Winfrey), as a tribute to Jorge’s courage and tenacity.  She has shown remarkable progress in her rehabilitation after a tragic illness that resulted in the amputation of her limbs.

Strickland met Monica Jorge after seeing her on the Oprah Winfrey Show more than a year ago and offered her services as the president of Ayer Moving & Storage Company to help in any way she could.  Her company stored and moved furnishings into the new home in time for the taping of the Nate Berkus Show.  She enlisted the assistance of Janet Lewis from the Town of Ayer Parking Department to help the producers of the show with obtaining the use of the Ayer/Shirley Regional High School for staging and the buses to shuttle the audience to and from the home site.  Ayer Moving & Storage provided the truck used by Nate Berkus for his entrance to the home site with his name and show logo “wrapped” on the side.  She was “on call” to provide various and sundry services and errands to help make the taping go smoothly.

It was Strickland’s hope to provide Monica and her family with tokens of the community’s best wishes so she called area businesses, asked for donations, and obtained a variety of gifts including two brand-new Diamond Back Raleigh bikes for the Jorge girls and much more.   The list of gifts includes over $1,500 in products and services:

• Two Diamond Back Raleigh bikes from
  Fresh Ayer Sports & Raleigh Bicycle
• Gift Certificate to Stop and Shop, Lexington
• Gift Certificate to Archers Mobil
• Gift Certificate for Solas Therapeutic Massage, Groton
• Bracelets for the Jorge children from Creations by Katherine
• Gift Certificate to Hannaford Market, Ayer from IC Credit Union
• Gift Certificate to Market Basket, Leominster from the Harvard/Shirley/Devens Rotary
• Fruitlands’ Museum Family Membership
• Catalano Company Gift Basket
• Gift Certificate for Dolce Restaurant, Pepperell
• Gift Certificate for Body, Mind, & Spirit Day Spa, Groton
• Gift Certificate for Bailey’s Restaurant, Townsend
• Tempur Pedic Pillow from Relax-the-Back
• Cleaning Supplies from MMM Therapeutic Massage, Ayer

The gifts were presented to Monica Jorge today at her new home in Pingry Hills, Ayer.  The Nate Berkus Show will air on Tuesday, September 27th at 10 am.

Dunstable Resident Elected to Fruitlands Museum Board
January 27, 2010 - Harvard, MA

At its January Annual Meeting, the Fruitlands Museum Board elected Karen Strickland to the position of Overseer.  As members of the Board, Overseers play an active role in assisting Fruitlands to fulfill its mission, develop and accomplish institutional goals, and encourage people to become more aware of the Museum’s mission and outreach.

Strickland joins 35 other Overseers from approximately 18 towns in MA to serve on the Board for terms of one to three years.  She is president of Ayer Moving & Storage, a family-owned North American Van Lines certified company.  While Ayer Moving focuses on residential moves in New England, it also services national as well as international moves.  Strickland is currently a member of the board of the Nashoba Valley Chamber of Commerce, having served as president in 1995-1997.  She is also past president and program chair of the local chapter of Rotary International.

Fruitlands Museum is located in Harvard on the site of Bronson Alcott’s utopian experiment, known as Fruitlands.  The property was purchased by Clara Endicott Sears in 1914 to further her dream of preserving part of New England’s rich cultural history.  Over the next three decades, the museum grew to include Native American art and artifacts, a Shaker collection, as well as a gallery of American portraits and Hudson River School landscapes.  Now, more than 90 years later, Fruitlands Museum is committed to its philosophy of education and outreach programs that serve thousands of adults, students, and families each year.

Ayer Moving & Storage teams with Penske, PackRat
July 24, 2009 – Ayer MA

Ayer Moving & Storage has partnered with otherwise competitors to capture market share in the moving market. 

Starting last week, PackRat on-site storage containers became available for rent out of Ayer Moving & Storage.  PackRat becomes the third moving solution offered by Ayer Moving & Storage after the Central Avenue company’s partnership two years ago with Penske Drive-it Yourself trucks.

“The writing was on the wall a couple years back,” said Ayer Moving & Storage President Karen Strickland Sampson.  “Sales slowed in real estate.  Residential moves dropped last fall.  Definitely, this summer, sales are off,” said Strickland.

But some moves must still happen, she says, “so popple are more apt to say ‘we want to do it oursleves’ and rent (a truck).”  She added, “They may also opt to have us do the big stuff and they will do the small boxes.  People are very cost-conscious.”

While Strickland serves as president, her brother Phil Strickland is vice president for the company their grandfather Eldon Strickland, Sr. started in 1951.  Ayer Moving & Storage is affiliated with Northamerican Van Lines for local and long-distance professional hauling.

For folks looking to clean out a house for an emergency or a pending sale, Ayer Moving & Storage can now help schedule the rental of 12- and 16-foot long PackRat storage containers.  The first container was dropped onto the Central Avenue parking lot at Ayer Moving & Storage on July 17th.

PackRat General Manager David Blamy says business is brisk.  “A lot of downsizing is helping us; people moving from larger homes to smaller homes,” said Blamy.  “People are looking for low-cost solutions.”

So instead of storing items off site or paying a daily rental truck fee, the weatherproof storage box is another option for temporary storage.  The storage units can also be loaded onto a Pack Rat truck to move the contents to another location. 

Sensing the thrifty mood in clients, Strickland affiliated with Penske trucks for do-it-yourself trucking two years ago.  Penske branch rental manager Mandy Jackson said, “It’s a good partnership.  It’s definitely not a threat to anyone.  We have people calling for help loading and unloading trucks.  So now we have a contact we can connect them with at Ayer Moving & Storage.” 

The Ayer branch location now rents small 12- and 16-foot Penske box trucks, tractor-trailer sized trucks and car tow dollies.

“We’ll help keep the costs down by loading a Penske truck for our customers who can then drive their load across the country themselves,” Strickland said.  “We offer multiple moving solutions in one call.”

Melissa Fetterhoff, Executive Director of the Nashoba Valley Chamber of Commerce, applauded Strickland for embracing the competition and rolling with the times in the moving business.  “This economic climate is a great opportunity for business to reevaluate the services they’re providing and to partner with other businesses to provide greater service,” she said.

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