Sandpoint Elks donates $2K to CCS programs

SANDPOINT — For those battling cancer, the emotional and financial impacts can be devastating.

Community Cancer Services seeks to ease that burden by providing information, emotional and financial support to community members and their families affected by the diagnosis. To do so, CCS relies on the community for support as well. For that reason, members of the Sandpoint Elks Lodge No. 1376 presented CCS with a check for $2,000 on Tuesday.

For Linda Tatlock, Elks “loyal knight,” the donation is fitting after her own battle with cancer, as she knows first-hand how difficult it can be financially and emotionally.

“I was incredibly fortunate to have good health insurance and friends who offered to drive, so that was wonderful, but if you don’t have insurance and are on a limited budget, this is just such a godsend to have help,” Tatlock said.

Even those with good insurance can struggle with costs after a diagnosis, when all of a sudden they can no longer work, said Cindy Marx, CCS program manager. And it doesn’t just affect those with the diagnosis, Marx said. It affects the whole family and the community when someone can’t work anymore or take care of their family without help.

Marx said she found herself in need of the services CCS provides in the past as well, and one of the most “amazing” things she gets to do in her position in the organization is to talk to people.

“Very often, I am the first person they have talked to who has actually had it, as opposed to the doctors and nurses ... and I know for me, that was one of the most powerful things was talking to someone else who had actually been through it,” Marx said.

The Elks donation will support the organization’s grocery voucher program, Marx said, because a lot of their clients struggle with making ends meet even before they are diagnosed. Then, after a diagnosis, clients not only need to maintain nutrition, they need to eat “cleaner,” which drives up the cost of food. CCS also provides gas vouchers, because while chemotherapy treatment is available locally, clients have to travel to Coeur d’Alene or Spokane for radiation. Some people with more rare forms of cancer have to travel to Seattle as well, she said. The organization helps with medical bills and prescription costs as well.

Group meetings are held every other Tuesday, and CCS offers one-on-one counseling for those who are diagnosed and their family members. They also offer yoga classes, and there is a boutique in the CCS office with hats, wigs, scarves and other items for people going through chemo.

“Then I have this kind of random, rotating assortment of free giveaway stuff,” Marx said, which can includes items such as wheelchairs, walkers, shower chairs and more to lend out or give away, and all of it is donated to CCS.

CCS moved to its new location at 1205 Highway 2 in September, and Marx said it brings the organization back to its roots of a non-clinical, more home-like setting. Instead of walking in to see a desk, guests of CCS walk into a comfortable, living room setting.

“I love it,” Marx said of the new space.

CCS is supported by donations throughout the community, grants, and its two main fundraisers — the Mad Hatter Tea Party and Charity Ball, and a Night to Remember. The latter is held annually in November, and the Mad Hatter event is coming up April 13 at the Heartwood Center. The event includes a fashion show, raffle, live and silent auction and more.

For information or to make a donation, visit communitycancerservices.com.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.