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Center provides wealth of services, programs to aid patients and caregivers.

Beth Miner and Nicole Farber of Candy’s Place, Forty Fort. The nonprofit organization needs a variety of donations, as well as more volunteers.

Clark Van Orden/The Times Leader

“I’m sorry, but you have cancer.”

It’s a heart-wrenching sentence more than 2,000 Luzerne County residents heard this year, and just as many will hear it again next year. But once they have that news, they have a place to go for support, education and all the resources they and their families need to cope: Candy’s Place.

“No matter who you are – man, woman or child, young or old – and no matter where you live, if you’re living with cancer, Candy’s Place has something you need,” said coordinator Nicole Farber.

Candy’s Place is one of six nonprofit organizations being featured in this year’s Times Leader Giving Guide. Each one needs help to continue providing services to those in need in our community, and readers are asked to consider contributing to one of these worthy causes this holiday season.

Farber said Candy’s Place was born 13 years ago when a woman started it in memory of her sister, who died of lung cancer. The sister – Candace Vincent-Mamary – had never smoked and had no known risk factors for lung cancer. She died just seven months after her diagnosis. Baffled by her beloved sister’s death, Tammy Cunningham knew something good had to come out of her loss. That something was Candy’s Place.

The center provides a wealth of services including peer-to-peer support groups, exercise programs, educational seminars and programs geared toward detection and prevention. It also offers healing arts programs such as massages and reiki therapy, which helps cancer patients and their caregivers regain some of the peace the disease steals.

“It’s extremely important for cancer patients and their families to have somewhere to go to get the support and information they need to help them deal with what they are going through,” Farber said. The only paid employee at the center, which depends on volunteers and donations and receives no federal or state funding, Farber said she knows the work done at Candy’s Place makes a difference. But sometimes, she said, that difference isn’t only for the cancer patients.

She recalled one woman who came to Candy’s Place.

The woman, who had been diagnosed with cancer, was reeling from the loss of several close family members who all had lost their battles with cancer. She also was struggling with the fact that they were gone yet she had survived.

“The pain that woman was experiencing I can’t even imagine,” Farber said, her voice breaking. “I sat with her for probably two hours and she couldn’t get any words out, all she did was sit there and cry. It was so overwhelming to see the sheer loss of hope. My heart went out to her and I just cried with her. I couldn’t do anything but offer her our services and listen, and hope it was enough.”

Though the woman could only respond with tears, Farber said she kept in contact through cards and “thinking of you” phone calls. The woman took advantage of some services, but the tears were never far off. Then one day, when Farber was returning to the center, she saw the woman leaving the building after a massage.

“She was smiling,” Farber said, a smile lightening her own voice as well. “She said she had hope again. She thanked me for not giving up on her. And now she tells me I have no idea what I did for her, but I tell her, no, you have no idea what you’ve done for me.”

Farber is hoping the center can soon expand into larger facilities. But whether or not that happens, there are many things the center needs to help it keep up with the needs of a patient base that has tripled since 2008, she said.

For instance, wigs, prostheses and head coverings for those who have lost their hair due to therapy would be helpful. So would a new massage table and an additional music player, maybe another Bose system to augment one that was donated a few years ago.

There are also many items used in the day-to-day operations of the center that drain the budget, such as bottled water that is used after exercise classes and other events, paper goods such as napkins, plates and utensils to be used for refreshments offered during many center events, office supplies such as paper and a paper cutter, and postage stamps and “thinking of you” cards to help keep in touch with patients.

Cookies, crackers and other non-perishable snacks will help offset the cost of providing light snacks during events and meetings; cleaning supplies such as Clorox Wipes and paper towels will help keep the place clean and tidy.

“And tissues. We use a lot of tissues here,” Farber said.

Picture frames to help create a gallery of survivors to inspire hope in the newly diagnosed would also be appreciated, as would artwork to brighten the walls. And, since some families encounter daunting expenses as they battle cancer, gift cards for local stores, groceries and gas that could be handed out to families in need would also be helpful. People can also help by contributing $30 to sponsor a patient’s attendance at the Candy’s Place Christmas Party.

And, of course, the center can always use more volunteers.

“We understand the needs of these patients and their family members,” Farber said.

To donate:

Candy’s Place

190 Welles St.

Forty Fort, PA 18704

Phone 570-714-8800

website: www.cancerwellnessnepa.org

Wish List:

Cash

Volunteers

Music player (CD or Bose system)

Wigs

Prostheses

Head coverings

Massage table

Bottled water

Non-perishable snacks

Tissues, paper towels, etc.

Clorox wipes and other cleaning supplies

Office supplies such as paper

Paper cutter

Stamps and “thinking of you” cards

Art work to decorate

Picture frames for survivors’ photos

Napkins, plates, utensils

Gift cards for local stores