For senior citizens in Champaign-Urbana, moving from their homes is more than just packing and unpacking boxes. Some have to do it alone, and others have mobility issues, which can make the process challenging.
Courtney Mann previously worked as a leasing manager at The Windsor of Savoy, a retirement home. She would help seniors pick out apartments and give them resource packets, including different moving companies and other details. But after that, they were on their own.
“I just had so many conversations and interactions with people that were honestly scared about that process or had a lot of anxiety about how to get started,” Mann said. “It was usually more difficult if someone didn’t have local support or any support at all.”
After 19 years at The Windsor of Savoy, Mann left her job last May to pursue a self-made business that helps make the moving process manageable for seniors — Compassionate Moving Solutions.
Compassionate Moving Solutions is more than just a moving service. Mann’s goal with her services is in the name of her business — leading with compassion. It involves connecting and building relationships with her clients and getting to know them and their quirks.
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Mann knows better than anyone the emotional distress that clearing out a home can cause. In her 20s, both of her parents died just a week from each other. Their parents’ deaths blindsided Mann and her brother, leaving them with the job of clearing out their childhood home.
Many items held memories of her parents, making it challenging to figure out what to do with them. Mann had to decide how to clear out her mother’s purses, shoes and clothes.
“I was definitely in a cloud of grief for a lot of it,” Mann said.
Mann uses her experiences with grief to empathize with her clients.
“I’m not a licensed therapist, but it’s just a lot of talking and memories come up when we’re sorting through things, which is actually really rewarding because it has fostered a lot of really great relationships,” Mann said.
A typical moving company picks up boxes of items and furniture, puts them into a truck, and unloads them at a new location. This detachment contrasts with how personally Mann connects with her clients.
“I’ve been told that oftentimes an unpacking service like that is literally just like opening and emptying a box,” Mann said. “It’s not necessarily putting things where they go. So for my clients, that’s not super helpful, because they actually need the physical support of putting the books on the bookshelf or organizing the kitchen drawers.”
Clients can get emotional when recalling memories of the items they need to get rid of, and they often tell stories. One client had a rocking chair they sat on while holding their newborn grandchild. Another had clothes they wore at their daughter’s wedding.
“(Sometimes) there’s some tears involved in retelling that story,” Mann said. “I mean, that gets me emotional, too. Whether it’s because I can understand what they’re feeling, or even because it brings up something from my past of having done that similarly in my situation.”
Pat Schutt was one of Mann’s first clients, who she met last September. She wanted to downsize from her four-bedroom house with 60 years’ worth of items to an apartment at The Windsor of Savoy.
At 84 years old, Schutt is not as mobile as she used to be. Since her children live in other states, Mann’s help with the moving process was necessary. Mann made what would’ve been a stressful and emotional move easier to handle.
“It was emotionally tough,” Schutt said, describing the moving process. “But she has really taken us under her wing and is careful with our feelings and with our time.”
According to Mann, the relationships she builds with her clients fill the void of her parentsʼ absence. She said most people her age can call their parents for advice, talk about their grandkids or recall forgotten childhood memories — but she doesn’t have that.
“I think that working with seniors really kind of fulfills some of that connection for me, too,” Mann said. “I kind of have that connection with some of the people that I’m working with, so that kind of fills that void.”
After spending time with Mann, Schutt invited Mann to be her guest for the Mother’s Day Luncheon at The Windsor of Savoy.
“I told Courtney we’re adopting her because she’s like a daughter to us and she has helped us so much,” Schutt said. “She’s a super lady.”
As Mann fosters close connections with her clients, her business has been quietly growing behind the scenes. Compassionate Moving Solutions currently doesn’t have a social media following or a website, instead primarily relying on word of mouth.
Many of her clients come to her from The Windsor of Savoy, and many residents already know her from previously working there. The retirement home tends to give out its business cards to residents. Her clients also recommend her services to their friends.
“At this point, I’m fortunate that I haven’t had to advertise because the word of mouth has been so beneficial to me,” Mann said.
For some of Mann’s clients, she goes beyond just helping them with the moving process.
Rose Friday is a senior who lives by herself, with most of her family living in California. Friday has chronic fatigue from Lyme disease, which can make daily tasks challenging. Not only has Mann helped her downsize items, but also help her in her everyday life.
Mann has helped her clean her kitchen and bailed her out of a flat tire incident. She also drove Friday to get carpal tunnel surgery. Being a block away from each other, Mann is always there for her when she needs her the most.
“She herself doesn’t realize how awesome she is,” Friday said. “I try to tell her, I said, ‘Courtney, I’ve had a lot of help, but you’re at the top of the list.’”
Mann consistently books out her schedule, despite only starting her business last year. There have been times when she worked 14 days straight.
“I’ve been doing this for a year, and it doesn’t seem possible, it’s gone very fast,” Mann said. “I still feel like I’m just getting started. I’ve got a year of experience, but it still feels very new and fresh.”
Although Mann has managed her business on her own, she said it’s time to expand. She is planning on hiring extra people to fulfill the community’s increasing demand for her services. Mann said that because the senior population is growing, more people will need her services in the future.
By 2030, it’s estimated that the number of people 60 years of age or older will increase to 3.6 million and represent 25% of Illinois’s population.
“I want to be able to help more people,” Mann said. “I’m very limited right now, being one person.”
Just a year since the conception of Compassionate Moving Solutions, Mann’s ability to help her clients has rewarded her in more ways than one.
“I feel very honored that my clients allow me into their homes and allow me into their lives,” Mann said. “I’m just very thankful because they’re allowing me into such a very personal process, and I don’t take that lightly.”
