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.

Baking soda - - - Fascinating!

By Nicole Hubbard, Hubbard’s Maid Service

Would you read an article about baking soda?

This is the season of baking, after all. But I am the supposed cleaning expert so we’re going with that slant. I googled “baking soda” and it has over 3 million results so I could write a thing or two about it. The reason baking soda has floated over to the center of my frontal lobes is because I have Corian kitchen counters that somehow were inflicted with a hideous blueberry stain. That stain taunted me for several days. Then I applied a paste of baking soda and water over the stain and scrubbed it with a rag and voila! The stain was gone. I did the same thing in the shower that had acquired a rust stain and the same thing, it was gone! So I am quite impressed with baking soda.

Besides using it in baking to make batter rise baking soda has many other uses. You can use it to wash garbage cans. It helps remove grease and odors. And also on that subject of oil and grease  -- stained clothing washes out better with baking soda added to the washing water.

Eliminating odors from your home can be accomplished by baking soda. This is especially good if you are looking for the non-toxic route. It absorbs kitty litter odors. That has got to be one of the skunkiest smells around. Cover the bottom of the kitty box with 1 part baking soda; then add a layer of three parts kitty litter on top. Now to eliminate dog odors or just freshen up the air, sprinkle baking soda on your carpet where your dog lies and vacuum up. Leave the soda on the carpet for half an hour. It also eliminates odor in your vacuum after it has been vacuumed up. It’s a great way to freshen up your home air during the winter when everything is closed up. You can also remove that intense smoky smell from ashtrays with baking soda and water. Don’t you hate it when your hands smell like garlic or fish? Clean them with baking soda – it really works! It will sweeten sour dish towels too.

Baking soda is powerful on barbecue grills. You can use it to scrub on as a paste, soak and then rinse off. You can apply the same method to any type of cooking pans as well to get off burned-on food. Baking soda can be used in place of dish washing detergent as well to give your machine an extra good cleaning.

Baking soda can also be used for personal care. Putting 2-tablespoons of baking soda in your baby's bath water will help relieve diaper rash irritations. It can be used as a mouth wash, baking soda will relieve a canker sore. You can also use it as an underarm deodorant if you’re in a pinch.

Using baking soda is a successful and non-toxic way to preserve our environment and it is readily available and economical for all sorts of uses in the household. If you have any unusual baking soda uses not mentioned here, let me know about them and I will feature it in my monthly newsletter. You can send your ideas to 22nicole22@comcast.net. I would love to hear from you!