Cleaning For A Reason

 "You have cancer."

Probably one of the scariest sentences a woman can hear from a doctor.

Often times while women are battling for their lives after this statement, the last thing they have energy for is keeping their homes cleaned. Their hair, eyelashes, and eyebrows are falling out and they only have enough energy to survive. Six years ago Cleaning For A Reason was founded by Debbie Sardone who had an epiphany for a type of service that would assist women who were suffering from cancer. She is the owner of a Texas maid service that began providing free cleanings to women who were undergoing chemotherapy treatment, which has blossomed into a nationwide non-profit foundation that has ended up being mentioned by Oprah herself on prime time television. Debbie began this service after she had quoted a woman who had cancer a price for cleaning her home. The woman explained that she could not afford it at the time because of her illness and though Debbie had felt sorry for her she had turned her away. Later she had contemplated why she had not just given it to her. She resolved from then on that any woman who called again with the same scenario would receive cleanings for free. Her simple philosophy was, "I can't help everyone, but I can help someone."

The foundation call center screens and qualifies requests before passing them onto a residential cleaning business to service. The foundation matches patients with qualified cleaning businesses who have pledged to provide 4 free cleanings for women while they are undergoing treatment for cancer. Also, Cleaning For A Reason Foundation recruits licensed, insured, and bonded cleaning companies who do background checks on their employees to provide these in demand services. The companies that participate pledge to donate funds to the foundation and do all of the cleanings 100% free for the women.

To date there are close to one thousand cleaning companies participating in the United States and Canada and over one million dollars of free cleanings have been donated. Here in our area, Hubbard’s Maid Service is a local cleaning company participant and they can take on more patients. One can contact the Foundation directly at cleaningforareason.org, or can call Hubbard’s Maid Service at 912-961-9131 for more information. The screening process involves filling out the online application and faxing a doctor’s note stating the patient is undergoing treatment. If you know of anyone who would qualify, please let them know this service is available. This act of service is a wonderful gift to the community. When a woman's life is in chaos, at least having a tidy home can be a major morale boost. For many women, their homes are part of their identity and having a clean home can make all the difference in the world. Having a clean home is one less thing for a female cancer patient to worry about.