A New Kind of Help for Women Undergoing Cancer Treatment

By Ashley Sewell

In 2009, an estimated 713,220 women were newly diagnosed with cancer. The “C” word triggers other words: chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. It raises questions about hair loss, insurance and medical bills, and the odds of remission. Undergoing treatment can take a toll emotionally as well as physically; anxiety, depression, and grief are side-effects in addition to the commonly referenced fatigue, nausea, and anemia.

There are tremendous support groups available to cancer patients, survivors, and their family members to help cope with the reality of cancer, but what about the day-to-day activities? For women undergoing cancer treatment, basic tasks like going to the grocery store, filling the car up with gas, and washing the dishes are, at times, near impossible either physically, emotionally, or both.

Cleaning For A Reason, a Dallas, TX-based 501c3 corporation, offers a solution to women in these overwhelming situations. This organization will dispatch an affiliated cleaning company to a woman’s house once a month for four months to clean the house, do the laundry, and run basic errands that are fundamental to everyday life. And they do it for free.

Covering all 50 states and six Canadian provinces, Cleaning For A Reason partners with over 600 professional cleaning companies to help a woman every 36 minutes. Requests for this service is so high that only 50 applications can be processed per day but those 50 spots are filled within seven minutes. To meet this demand, new residential cleaning businesses are being recruited every day and volunteer applications are always available online.

Founded in 2005, a small group of 11 Board members, 1 full-time employee, and a handful of part-timers have taken a local ministry and transformed it into a large outreach program in two countries serving thousands of women.

Whether she is single, married, mother, grandmother, homeowner, or renter, Cleaning For A Reason is a resource available to her to make her life a little easier. Women who have received the service are not only grateful for the free physical work offered, but for the company and compassion the helpers bring. Giving women with cancer “one less thing to worry about” is Cleaning For A Reason’s mantra and, by the testimonies posted on their website, they are certainly succeeding.

To make a financial contribution, volunteer time, or nominate a woman you know undergoing chemotherapy for services provided by Cleaning For A Reason, please visit their website at www.cleaningforareason.org.

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