Michelle’s Love, a small Scapoose, Ore.-based nonprofit that helps single moms with cancer, is showing more love to moms in Vancouver.
One of those women is 39-year-old Christy Castro, who’s battling Stage 4 breast cancer while living with her 7-year-old daughter in west Vancouver. On Saturday, volunteers with Michelle’s Love spruced up her yard and painted the interior of her house.
“It looks so much better,” she said. “I’m very grateful for it.”
Castro got in touch with Michelle’s Love founder Andy McCandless a couple of months ago through Legacy Health. The day they met, McCandless handed her a $100 Safeway gift card.
Although the nonprofit has been around for six years, McCandless said she’s getting more inquiries from oncology units in Vancouver. The nonprofit is small, only helping a handful of women in the Portland and Phoenix areas at any given time. And, McCandless wants to keep it small to ensure she can thoroughly help each mom.
The nonprofit’s namesake, Michelle Singleton, was a 32-year-old mother of four — and McCandless’ best friend — when she died from cancer in 2005. McCandless started helping moms in Phoenix before moving to the Portland area.
Michelle’s Love services are restricted to moms who were working at the time of their diagnosis. Castro, for instance, still works scheduling dental appointments at Willamette Dental Group. McCandless knows that moms often miss work for radiation, surgery or other kinds of treatment.
“That’s what would happen with Michelle,” McCandless said. Her friend wouldn’t ask for help, but it was clear she needed help around the house and with bills and groceries.
Michelle’s Love is all about “making sure they feel a sense of relief so they can actually recover,” McCandless said. That relief comes through cleaning and organizing clients’ homes, preparing meals for them or providing financial support for rent or mortgages and utility bills. More than half of what the nonprofit spends on programs and services goes to paying bills for struggling mothers.
Castro said she’s on the wait list to get financial assistance. She said she’s had a tough journey, but having a network of people who love and care about her and having a resource like Michelle’s Love makes a big difference. Still, she worries about her and her daughter’s future — that her daughter might miss out on the fun of just being a kid.
“She worries a lot about me,” she said. “I have to remind her that everybody dies. That’s why we have to make sure we’re having fun and loving each other every day.”
