Meet Candace, Food Outreach Volunteer and Client

Candace first came to Food Outreach in the summer of 2024 as a volunteer. Her son, a student at Pattonville High School had to complete 50 hours of community service as a requirement for graduation. After driving him to his first volunteer shift, Candace decided to stay and help out. “They always needed my extra help, so I ended up volunteering with my son for every one of his volunteer shifts. It wasn’t until I started volunteering that I learned that Food Outreach serves people with HIV or cancer. I thought it was a great mission.”

At the beginning of this year when Candace was diagnosed with lymphoma, she turned to Food Outreach for assistance. “I got my diagnosis in January, and it was devastating. It’s very devastating, and I was just trying to think of resources that could help me. I went on Food Outreach’s website and saw that you can self-refer, and it was a quick and easy process.”

Now as a client, Candace comes to Food Outreach every other week to select her groceries and meals. “The food from Food Outreach has helped tremendously. There are those days when I don’t have a ton of fatigue, and I feel up to cooking. I always pick certain ingredients based off what I think I want to cook that week. But after the first five days of chemo, I really can’t do anything, and that’s where the frozen meals help. The fatigue alone makes it difficult to get up and get something to eat. It is a huge help to be able to just grab something, toss it in the microwave, and know that I will get the nutrition my body needs.”

For her treatment, Candace is doing 12 cycles of chemotherapy. She is currently half-way through the treatment, and is already planning to come back to volunteer with Food Outreach when she is better. “As soon as I feel better, I’m coming back to volunteer at Food Outreach and I’m bringing my son. I definitely want to get more involved with the organization. I am just so grateful Food Outreach exists. It is a huge help to me both financially and health-wise.”