For families dealing with cancer treatment, the holiday season can be physically, emotionally and financially stressful. Minnesota Oncology’s physicians and staff recognize these challenging realities, and with the assistance of our social workers who help to identify families in special need at this time of year, our employees and friends become Santa’s assistants, helping holiday wishes come true for patients struggling to make ends meet. This year, our 10 area clinics and our central business office pitched in to provide gifts for 25 family groups who received brightly wrapped personal gifts from their wish lists as well as gift cards for food, gas, clothing and some welcome diversions. These families come from diverse backgrounds and circumstances, including families with young children, elderly patients living alone or on a very limited budget, single parent families facing cancer, a patient and her adult son caregiver, and single patients with little family support.

Following their holiday tradition, Werner Electric partnered with Minnesota Oncology once again by adopting three patient families in Maplewood and Saint Paul. Our Woodbury clinic raised funds for a local food shelf in order to share the wealth throughout their community.

The need is great and the struggles are real. Minnesota Oncology employees feel privileged to be able to lend a helping hand, alleviate stress on families and receive to ourselves the best gift of all – the blessing that comes when we give from the heart. 

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

~ Winston Churchill