Terry Wall was recovering from a bilateral mastectomy and the last thing she wanted to do was clean her house.
“You know, we don’t have a very big place, but it still needs to be cleaned,” she said. “The energy you do have, you don’t want to use it on cleaning.”
Luckily, she had talked to a friend who heard about a free cleaning service for cancer patients and suggested she call the American Cancer Society.
Soon she was talking to someone from Cleaning for a Reason, a nonprofit organization out of Texas that connects cancer patients with cleaning services all over the United States and Canada who offer their cleaning for free to cancer patients.
Enter Deborah Cassidy with Clean as a Whistle in Bradenton.
Cassidy had signed up with the program after her business consultant had advised it might be something she would want to try.
Wall was Cassidy’s first cancer client and for four months, she cleaned the Walls’ home once a month for free.
“I just can’t express how it worked out for us,” Wall said.
“It was so good, so good, just knowing the sheets were clean on the bed and the bathrooms were clean, too.”
And she enjoyed the caring touch Cassidy provided.
“Her little face coming in here... she brought me joy,” Wall said.
She has been donating her services to cancer patients only since April but Cassidy is a firm believer in its giving back aspect.
“They have enough things going on in their lives,” she said.
“This way they can concentrate on their health and getting better.”
And if the cancer patients get a clean home and peace of mind, Cassidy says she walks away with a gift too.
“It makes you feel good. You feel better because you reached out,” she said.
Cassidy, whose cleaning service is the only one in Manatee and Sarasota counties that now partners with Cleaning for a Reason, is hoping other maid services will get involved.
She had a good friend who died of the disease and knows how much a helping hand is needed by those battling cancer.
The nonprofit gets 325 calls a month and has 550 cleaning companies as partners, she said. Since Cleaning for a Reason started in 2007, partners have cleaned more than 2,000 homes at a donated cost of $350,000.
Karen Roberts, of Sarasota, is the newest recipient of Cassidy’s help. She has breast cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy.
“It has been a blessing to me because I’m too tired to do anything,” Roberts said. “I’m a single mom and it’s been really, really helpful.”
To learn more about Cleaning for a Reason or to register for the service, go online at cleaningforareason.org.
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