Local cleaners partner with nonprofit to offer free services to cancer patients

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – Local cleaners are lending a helping hand to households in need by offering free cleaning services to cancer patients.

Four cleaners in Bryan and College Station partnered with Cleaning for a Reason, a national nonprofit dedicated to providing free home cleaning for cancer patients.

Their newest partner, Elizabeth Cantu, said it’s been an incredibly rewarding experience.

“If I know that I have the ability to make a small change in someone’s life, then that’s what I want to do, you know, and it just, it drives me knowing that I can,” she said.

Roxanne Steptoe, the CEO of Cleanly Touch Janitorial Services, has spent three years partnered with the organization, and has worked with around 15 patients locally.

For her, it’s a deeply personal cause her own life experiences led her to.

”As a young girl, my mother had cancer, and I remember the day, seeing her not able to cook or clean, and it’s not that she didn’t want to, she just didn’t have the will, the strength to do that,” she said.

She lost her mother to cancer, and now finds joy in helping those who may share a similar situation to her own.

“It has been heartwarming being able to help others, serve others in their desperate time of need, really. I know cleaning may be the last thing someone may think about when they’re sick,” Steptoe said.

Steptoe said she was drawn to Cleaning for a Reason because of her connection with their mission. She knows the amount of difference a clean space makes, and is proud to provide that to others.

“Coming home to a clean home just makes someone feel so much better,” she added.

Household chores can be stressful, but for those impacted by cancer, it becomes an even larger burden.

Cantu, co-owner of Pro Choice Cleaning Supply, said giving back in this way just made sense.

“I’ve always liked to help people out and whenever I can give an extra hand, I’ll give an extra hand,” she said.

As a small business owner, she’s thankful to use her talents within her community.

Her partnership with Cleaning for a Reason may have only just begun, but she said she wants to see even more companies join in so all who are battling cancer in the area can have access to a clean home.

The work she does for those households is substantial, and deeply emotional.

One client in particular stands out to Cantu.

“She said to me, ‘I pray that God blesses you for the work you do,’ and that really touched my heart because I knew that, you know, she was very grateful and that it did help her,” she said.

Cleaning for a Reason has assisted over 54,000 patients since their founding in 2006.