Free Meals for Breast Cancer Patients

The program helps Massachusetts patients balance both their family lives and treatment plans.

Noel Peters was diagnosed with breast cancer three months after moving here with her husband and three children. Peters, a Harvard Medical School researcher, worried that she would not be able to spend time with her family because of her new treatment schedule and her busy work schedule, but thanks to Magnolia Meals at Home, she was able to juggle both.

Breast cancer patients can struggle maintaining their family lives during treatment, which is why Magnolia Meals at Home delivers nutritious meals right to patients’ doorsteps during treatment. “It’s really important to maintain a sense of normalcy and not feel sick all the time when you don’t have the energy you normally have,” says Peters. “Programs like Magnolia Meals at Home allow you to focus on what’s more important in your day. To me, it’s more important to spend time with my kids, to keep helping them with their homework, and to not have those things stop because of a breast cancer diagnosis.”

The program, which serves patients in areas of New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York, and New Hampshire, provides up to two months of home meal deliveries. Patients are eligible if they have undergone chemotherapy, radiation, or hormone therapy, or were discharged from the hospital in the last three months (current patients included).

Magnolia Meals at Home works with Meals on Wheels, which contacts patients directly after they have been approved through the Magnolia Meals system. Each food delivery includes 10 meals that are specially designed to fit the nutritional needs of breast cancer patients. The program also provides meals for the patients’ family members as well.

“Mealtime with family is something most people look forward to all day. But for patients undergoing treatment for breast cancer, it can be difficult to even think about eating, let alone planning and preparing healthy meals for your family,” says Jane Brown, Magnolia Meals at Home program coordinator for Massachusetts and New Hampshire and a breast cancer surviver herself. “That’s what is so great about Magnolia Meals at Home. It makes it easy for participants to have nutritious, well-balanced meals right at their finger-tips.”

For more information or to see if you are eligible, visit magnoliamealsathome.com.