Going though cancer treatment is often difficult for a patient and their family. Nicole Akers knows this firsthand. She underwent treatment 23 years ago for Stage 3 breast cancer.
She is now a breast cancer survivor and wants to help other women going through the same thing she did.
Akers and her husband opened an Auburn location of Two Maids and a Mop just shy of two years ago. When they opened their franchise, they felt called to partner with Cleaning for a Reason, just like many franchises in the company do.
Cleaning for a Reason is a nonprofit organization that partners with home cleaning businesses to provide free home cleanings to cancer patients.
“You can feel helpless when you’re not the one going through it as far as what to do or what you can do,” Akers said. “This is, in some small part, a way that we can give back and just offer some sort of support for those facing it.”
It's about giving back to a community they hold close to their hearts. For Akers and her husband, it was a no-brainer to partner with the nonprofit.
“It’s just knowing firsthand what you go through,” Akers said. “This was something that was so simple and easy that we could do that would mean a lot to somebody.”
Going through treatment takes a toll on everyone. When Akers was undergoing treatment, she said she lacked energy to do many normal tasks. On top of that, her immune system was weakened.
It’s an exhausting process. Often times she would want to do things but just didn’t have the energy.
Two Maids and a Mop in Auburn is hoping to fill that gap and do something a cancer patient may not have the energy to do.
“It’s nice to have something like that done, because who doesn’t want to have somebody come in and clean their house and you not have to worry about it,” Akers said. “But it’s kind of really important from a health standpoint.”
Though Cleaning for a Reason was not yet established when Akers was undergoing treatment, she said it was certainly something she would have participated in.
Friends and community members often brought her meals. Those meals provided her a sense of relief and she said she hopes the home cleanings do the same.
“Just knowing there are people out there that just want to do any little thing that they can, that support meant a lot to me,” Akers said.
The Two Maids and a Mop Auburn franchise performed their first cleaning with Cleaning for a Reason the first week of October.
The franchise provided a free general home cleaning to a local cancer patient. Two Maids and a Mop Auburn Operations Manager Chrissy Reeves said the cancer patient was excited and relieved when she learned about the free cleaning.
The franchise hopes to provide more free home cleanings to cancer patients. They see it as a way to show patients they are not alone in their fight, Reeves said.
“It takes a huge weight off their shoulders knowing it’s one less thing they have to worry about,” Reeves said.
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Elizabeth, senior in journalism and political science, is the community editor for The Plainsman
