Homewood's Cancer Support Center Celebrates Seventeen Years of Service

In 1992, Jennifer Fallick and Patti McDonald had both recently lost their husbands to cancer.Both were attempting to work through their grief while raising small children on their own.

Along with four other South Chicagoland women, Fallick and McDonald came together to create a safe, comfortable place where people whose lives were impacted by the fight against cancer could receive support and information.

In 1994, the Jennifer S. Fallick Cancer Support Center was born. And seventeen years later, it now provides support and information to cancer survivors and their families in 70 Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana communities. 

“From the beginning, the Center has tried to provide a warm, welcoming environment,” Allison Smith, the Cancer Support Center’s center's marketing and development coordinator. "We have a living room, a kitchen… it's almost the opposite of the hospital." 

The Center, located in Homewood, welcomes more than 300 visits and phone calls per week and provides roughly 11,000 hours of service per year. Among other things, it has a large lending library, Internet access and wigs for those who are undergoing chemotherapy.

The Center also has support groups that are geared not only toward patients and survivors, but also the families, caregivers, and friends who have lost a loved one to cancer.

"Not only are we were for those dealing with cancer, we are here for the entire family,” said Smith. “Because cancer doesn't just affect you, it affects everyone you know.”

This Center also has an extremely popular wellness programs such as Yoga classes, a Friday crocheting circle and nutrition classes. All of these services are made free partially by government funding, but largely through the donations the Center receives. These donations are not only monetary: many people donate their time to help the Center run smoothly. Aside from the Center’s 13 staff members, it has 150 active volunteers.

“We love volunteers, they do multiple kinds of work for us. They do housekeeping, they help us do mailings,” Smith said. The community is why we are still here, why we are able to provide these services and these programs for people.”

On March 19, the Center will honor the Aurelio family of , with the Richard K. Dressler Spirit of Life Award at the Center’s biggest fundraiser, the annual Presidents’ Ball.

The Jennifer S. Fallick Cancer Support Center is located at 2028 Elm Road in Homewood. You can find more information about the Center on their website.

This article was modified on March 7 to reflect the correct year that the Cancer Support Center was opened.