NY Movers


ISRAEL CARMEL
Vice president and chief executive of FlatRate Moving and Storage in Manhattan. Teamed up with the Partnership for the Homeless during the holidays and donated discarded furniture to needy families.BIOGRAPHY43 and a native of Haifa, Israel. Served six years in the Israeli air force and was a school principal before moving to the United States in 1991. Co-founded FlatRate with his partner, Sharone Ben-Harosh, 15 years ago. Married, two children and lives in Jericho.WHY HE'S INVOLVED"It all started when we found out that many of our customers deliberately asked our movers if they could take away the furniture they wanted to get rid of, for whatever reason, which was, very often, in good condition. We started seeing so much stuff that was being discarded that we decided to put it in our storage facilities. Then we read an article about the Partnership for the Homeless and felt it would be a great way to help. The apartments that we read about that they were getting from the city would be empty and that's when we got the idea to give them the trucks, the movers and the furniture."FOCUS"We started working with the Partnership for the Homeless last year and it's definitely something that we will continue and even increase. In fact, it will be an ongoing joint venture and not just during the holidays, because the need is there. In January everybody was so consumed with the tsunami, the focus was all on Asia. But, if you look right here you will also find dire situations. That's the message that we want to get out. That, unfortunately, the problem of homelessness exists and it will continue to exist."REWARD"When you consider that there are 19,000 families - about 90 percent of them families with kids - that are homeless in New York, you begin to see how big the problem is. As they leave shelters for new, permanent homes, they don't have the means to furnish them. It's so empty and cold. But the more comfortable they feel the more likely that they will get their lives back on track. If we can combine what we know the best, then we can help. We can say that we did something great."