how to support family fighting cancer

[zoestargrove]

I just found out my neighbor several houses up from us is fighting esophageal cancer. He is a father of 4 young children. His children are a few years older than ours so we haven't had many opportunities to get to know each other than a friendly hello.

Someone in town started up a collection and we've given, but I have this nagging feeling that I'd like to do more - I just don't know what is appropriate and need some thoughtful ideas.

thank you, Kelly

[jse107]

Some meals? Babysitting? House cleaning? Gas gift cards?

Even though I don't know many of the families in our neighborhood, when there's a need we all pitch in to make dinners for a family at least 2x/week. Could you organize something like that?

[wellyes]

That's awful.

I know from family experience that the prognosis for esophageal cancer is exceptionally poor.

All I can think of is, in our neighborhood, when a mother was killed in a car crash, a group of people set up a rotation where they'd bring dinner over to the family every night for a little while. It was good not just in providing food but also in just having someone to give a quick visit every day.

[gatorsmom]

All I can think of is, in our neighborhood, when a mother was killed in a car crash, a group of people set up a rotation where they'd bring dinner over to the family every night for a little while. It was good not just in providing food but also in just having someone to give a quick visit every day.

:yeahthat: this is an excellent idea. I bet many people inthe neighborhood would like to do something but dont' know what. If you started calling neighbors and asking if they'd be willing to take a meal over to the family and then set up the schedule so more than one meal doesn't arrive on any one night, the family would probably appreciate it. From previous experience, I would call a talk to a few neighbors first to see what the interest is in helping and if there is enough people willing to help, then call the family to let them know some neighbors would like to help and are they interested? I've coordinated many of these before and I've had 2 families say no to receiving meals due to allergies and food intolerances. But they were very touched by the offer. You could also find out the time of the day they usually eat dinner, how many people the meals need to feed (in case other relatives are at the house helping out) and then how often they'd like to receive a meal. Once per week? Every other evening?

This would be a very nice thing to coordinate for them, if they are interested. hth.