By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Moving company helping domestic violence victims move forward

Aug 29, 2018 | 1:01 PM

A Sylvan Lake man is lending a hand to those in central Alberta experiencing domestic violence.

It was 2016 and Chris Ehret was working in the oilfield when things began slowing down.

He’d been helping people move to earn some extra money on the side when one day he happened into a conversation with a Mountie that would ultimately change lives.

“The RCMP officer said that with the decline in the economy their workload had tripled, and domestic violence calls had also tripled. After thinking about the conversation – boom — a light bulb moment occurred for Chris,” says Lindsay Bell, spokesperson for what’s now known as Moving Forward to New Beginnings.

Since that discussion, Ehret has completed 36 rescue missions (moves) in Sylvan Lake, Red Deer and elsewhere in the province, for both women and men.

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“On his third rescue mission, a gentleman reached out to shake Chris’s hand with both of his and said ‘Thank you for saving my daughter,’” Bell shares. “This hit him like a ton of bricks and he wondered what he’d gotten himself into. At that moment, he realized that this was something he wanted to do full time, so he quit his 17-year oilfield career and committed to doing this full-time.”

With the profits from every six paid moves Ehret does, he can cover expenses to coordinate one rescue mission.

One woman who received help from Moving Forward tells rdnewsNOW she was experiencing physical and emotional abuse when they stepped in.

“I couldn’t live in that situation anymore and really needed out of it. I had nothing. I went to the women’s shelter with the clothes on my back, so being able to get everything out of my apartment was a miracle,” she says.

The woman tells others facing similar situations, “Don’t be ashamed to reach out for help and just stick in there. There is a light on the other side because when I was in the middle of it all, I didn’t realize that. Moving Forward was definitely part of that light.”

Bell adds that for Ehret, doing this is ultimately about saving lives.

“You never know whose life is at risk,” she says. “The sooner you can get people — and especially children — out of these violent situations, the faster they can utilize resources and heal when they otherwise couldn’t.”

Moving Forward is hiring four new workers for the fall season.