Jennifer Wellington is the founder/owner of Errand Works.By Stacy Shaw
Prince William County now has an errand service to help people complete their daily, weekly or one-time errands in a more time efficient way.
Errand Works provides a service that can help working professionals and busy families run their lives more smoothly. Errand Works can complete all of the errands that make peoples’ lives hectic and take away from time with family and friends, healthful activities, relaxation and leisure.
The errand company specializes in picking up and putting away groceries; picking up dry-cleaning and prescriptions; sending mail and packages; making quick purchases and returns; taking pets to the groomers; taking family members to doctors appointments; pick up from automobile appointments; or at home waiting for service professionals - all of the errands that people need to fit into their busy lives.
“It’s for people who are stressed, who spend a lot of time commuting, who have a lot of obligations and who don’t want to spend all day Saturday doing their errands,” said owner, Jennifer Wellington. “We’ll do that for them during the work day at non-peak hours.”
Jennifer Wellington is a longtime Nokesville resident. She started the service knowing there was nothing like it in Prince William County and the surrounding area.
Wellington knows about needing extra help to run her family. She raised a special needs daughter who required 24-hour care and still requires daily care within her home.
She found the experience of taking care of her daughter rewarding but also very humbling. She quickly learned she and her husband could not do everything for their family, especially with another child at home. They had to ask for help.
“All these years I’ve known what it was like to have to ask for help because she requires 24-hour care,” said Wellington, noting that the everyday errands could become “pretty overwhelming.”
Paying for services really helped, said Wellington, and it made it ever better when a nurse or assistant could provide “service with a smile,” something she endeavors to do.
Wellington created Errand Works to be the place people can go to find help for daily living when their time could be better spent elsewhere. She compares Errand Works to maid service or lawn service, which many people have come to depend upon.
Errand Works especially wants to help commuters, who can waste hours on the road each day. She acknowledges it can be stressful to run errands late in the evening or on weekends when stores are most crowded.
Errand Works on assignment in Gainesville.“You can’t run out on your lunch hour if you work far from home,” she said, and asks people to imagine coming home and having their dry-cleaning already there, or their dinner in the refrigerator.
She wants Errand Works to make a significant difference in people’s quality of life.
“[It’s meant to] reduce stresses in people’s lives, give them a better quality of life and to help them achieve a better work life balance,” she said. “And when you reduce stress, you improve health.”
Errand Works will run their errands during the most efficient times of day. One hour of service can save a client two hours or more hours of their time.
“Once people get used to using it in that fashion, it can be very economical,” Wellington said.
Errand Works prides itself on completing a task. Groceries picked up are put away in the refrigerator and freezer and organized on the counter. Drivers stay and take notes during doctor visits for elderly clients.
Clients can add or subtract tasks each week, so to accommodate errands for holidays, parties or even have them pick up dinner for a busy evening.
Errand Works is looking for new clients, and is offering a 15 percent discount for those buying services during the month of August.
To contact Errand Works call 703-881-1599 or visit their website, errandworksva.com.
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