Duane Hicks
Starting a battle with cancer is a daunting challenge but a couple of local home-based businesswomen will be happy if they can bring smiles to the faces of dozens of new chemotherapy patients.
Jessica Ogden and Donna Kowalski, who sell Thirty-One (a line of bags, purses, and organizing items), have been getting people to sponsor “chemo comfort bags” for the past month.
People could purchase them for $33, with Ogden and Kowalski using their commissions from the sale of the bags to fill them with comforting items for chemo patients.
These include blankets, hand lotions, lip balm, gift certificates for wig care, Biotene products (to treat dry mouth), and much more.
“The response to these bags was incredible,” Ogden said of the campaign’s success.
“At first, I set a personal goal of selling 20 bags,” she noted. “Once I hit that, I made a new goal of 35.
“Once I hit that, I stopped making a goal and said, ‘I am going to sell as many as I can.’
“I placed my order Monday and I ordered 62 bags,” Ogden enthused.
Kowalski, meanwhile, sold 24 “chemo comfort bags.”
They should arrive in about two weeks.
“My children, Nicholas and Aynsley, and husband, Jeff, will be helping me fill these bags once they arrive,” Ogden explained, noting her family already has been helping her gather items to put in the bags.
“They are happy to help,” she remarked.
The Ogden family and Kowalski then will bring the bags to Riverside Health Care to be given to chemo patients there.
The idea came from Thirty-One director Donna Gagnon-Durate of Strathroy, Ont., who challenged more than 100 Thirty-One team members across Canada to see how many they could sell.
“I thought, ‘What a wonderful idea since everyone seems to give to the Cancer Society but we don’t see it staying in our community,'” Ogden noted.
“As well, people seem to be in the giving spirit during the Christmas season,” she added.
“But what about the people who are diagnosed during and after Christmas that need something to put a smile on their face just once while they are starting their battle with cancer.
“Cancer has touched many of our lives in some way or another, so I thought it would be nice to start 2017 out by giving to those who really need our support,” added Ogden.
Ogden has been nominated for Home-Based Business in the upcoming 21st-annual Rainy River District Business Awards, and she suspects she may have been nominated due to her chemo comfort bag campaign.
“I am not sure if it is because of this or not, but I am honoured that someone would nominate me,” Ogden said.
“I give back to the community with my business because I like to help others,” she added.
