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April 2011 Angels on Earth By Jody Morgan
Serving Danville
A Fresh Start
Have you ever met an angel? There are about 4,000 earthbound angels operating in 12 different countries at any given time. Numbered among them is Danville denizen Sharon Jones. Mother of three grown children and proud grandmother of five, Sharon has been an angel since 2003 – a Chemo Angel, to be precise. Each week she sends small gifts and upbeat notes to her “chemo buddy,” a stranger she has never met. From her home in California, she radiates warmth and inspiration to a cancer patient engaged in a life or death conflict a thousand or more miles away - in Pennsylvania, Sharon Jones Ohio, Tennessee, or wherever next her buddy may live. Founded in 2000 by California resident Laura Armstrong, Chemo Angels brings together at any given time about 2,000 cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy with twice as many volunteer angels. Traditional angels, like Sharon, are responsible for sending a modest present and a few lines of encouragement each week to their buddies. Sharon spends about $10 a week including postage on items that range from books to jewelry to bath salts or crossword puzzles. At the time when a patient is enrolled in the program, he or she fills out an application including a check off list of interests, favorites, and categories of items that would be welcome as gifts. “One of my buddies,” Sharon recalls, “loved Country Music. Shopping for her was fun because I learned a lot about the music while I was selecting gifts I knew she’d enjoy.” Touched by the disease during her own father’s terminal struggle against pancreatic cancer, Laura Armstrong was motivated to help others suffering through their course of treatment. Pregnant with her third child, Laura joined an online support group for expectant mothers. When she discovered that a group member had breast cancer, Laura began sending her weekly presents and cards. After her course of treatment was successfully concluded, Armstrong’s new friend gratefully dubbed Laura her “Chemo Angel.” Seeing a way to bring a ray of sunshine into the gloomiest days of other patients’ lives, Laura founded her web-based organization of earthbound angels recruiting 100 volunteers in the first three months. Encouraged by the response, Armstrong left her job as an accounting clerk with a CPA and began working full-time as the unpaid administrator of Chemo Angels. Today, no longer the only member of the unpaid staff, she still limits the number of patients being served at any given time to the number her organization can successfully monitor. Compromising the care offered in any way is unthinkable. In addition to traditional gift-giving angels, the organization also provides each patient with a card angel. Card angels commit to sending at least one card a week. Being a card angel allows volunteers who may find spending $40-$50 a month a financial burden to get involved. Messages from angels to their buddies are never about their personal problems or about sadness over the patient’s condition. Politics and religion as well as health are forbidden subjects. Sharon writes about flowers blooming in her garden, a shared hobby such as golf, or something interesting she has read.
By Fran Miller
Fresh Start, a respite and service center for the homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless, is growing and expanding. For most enterprises, this would signify progression and success. But for Fresh Start, expansion is indicative of trying times. “Fresh Start has changed for the better over the last few years, and for better or worse it has grown,” says Executive Director Bill Lunghi. “In other words, Fresh Start serves more participants due to the Great Recession. As more and more Americans are losing their jobs and/or their homes, more people are requiring our services. Moreover, worker/consumer income continues to decline and the social safety net is simply falling apart.” Lunghi’s wife, Susan Prather, founded Fresh Start in Walnut Creek sixteen years ago. Her compassion, charisma, and unconventional style served to change the lives of everyone she met. She, in essence, was Fresh Start,
A huge thank you card for Abi (4th from left), who obtained donations of personal care items. Abi created over 150 personal care packs she put together for participants at Fresh Start as part of her Gold Star Award for Girl Scouts. Pictured left to right, Geoffrey, Bill, Robin, Abi, Billy, and Polly.
and when she passed away unexpectedly a few years ago, Lunghi took the reigns and has successfully navigated the non-profit through one of the worst economic downturns in recent history. Fresh Start continues to thrive, thanks in large part to its volunteer staff - management, administrators and case
See Fresh Start continued on page 21
AAUW Garden Tour
The 11th Annual Danville-Alamo-Walnut Creek Branch of AAUW Garden Tour will be held Friday, May 6th and Saturday, May 7th from 10AM - 4PM. Seven delightful gardens located in Alamo, Danville, and Walnut Creek will be showcased. Various landscape designers as well as expert gardeners will be on hand to share their knowledge. The cost is $30 if postmarked by April 30th, $35 thereafter; $25 for seniors 65+ by April 30, $30 thereafter. No children under 12 please. For tickets with garden locations, Volume II - Number 6 See Chemo Angels continued on page 19 mail a check by April 30th payable 3000F Danville Blvd. #117, Alamo, CA 94507 Telephone (925) 405-NEWS, 405-6397 to “AAUW Funds” with a business PRSRT STD Fax (925) 406-0547 size, self-addressed stamped enveU.S. Postage PAID lope to: AAUW Garden Tour 400 Alisa Corstorphine ~ Publisher Permit 263 Cliffside Dr, Danville, CA 94526. editor@yourmonthlypaper.com Alamo CA Tickets (cash or check only) are The opinions expressed herein belong to the writers, and do not necessarily reflect that of Danville Today News. Danville also available at East Bay Flower Today News is not responsible for the content of any of the
See AAUW cont. on page 11
advertising herein, nor does publication imply endorsement.