When Stacie Williams’ husband of two decades, Sam, was stricken with metastatic lung cancer in 2020, the Club Hope Foundation delivered a “box of hope” to the family containing items that can be used by a cancer patient, along with an uplifting message of hope.

When Sam succumbed in November 2022 to the cancer he fought for almost two years, Club Hope came through again for Stacie and her son Shane, then 18.

“I don’t really have any close family,” said Williams, of Bruin. “At Christmas, they showed up and brought us some gifts and meals again.”

On the painful first anniversary of Sam’s passing, Williams decided that sitting around crying wouldn’t help anyone who also had gone through the illness and death of a family member.

Instead, she called Cara Atkinson, founder, president and CEO of the Club Hope Foundation, to tell her she and Shane were interested in serving the organization as volunteers.

Atkinson gave them a tour of the Club Hope Foundation office in Ellwood City. After the tour, Williams shared with Atkinson the number of families in the Petroleum Valley area of northern Butler County who were impacted by cancer at the time.

One was the Seybert family, of Karns City. A son, Christopher, died at age 51 on Aug. 1, 2024. His father, Donald, 72, died 19 days later. Both had cancer.

Williams wonders if the cancer rates in the Petroleum Valley are higher because of the three large chemical plants and the former Bruin Lagoon, a repository for mineral oil production waste for over 40 years that was at one time the third most toxic site in the U.S. The site’s complex cleanup was finally completed in 1991.

With that in mind, Williams asked Atkinson if she could organize a drive to collect items for boxes of hope to be given to those in the Petroleum Valley who are fighting cancer.

“My son and I volunteer in the community a lot, and we thought this was a way we could give back,” she said.

Once given an enthusiastic go-ahead by Atkinson, Williams put up three collection boxes with the intention to increase that number to six in the near future.

The collection sites are NexTier Bank, 130 Hummingbird Plaza, Chicora; Centurion Restaurant, 107 Main St., Petrolia; and Faith Community United Methodist Church, 143 Main St., Bruin.

Items Williams is collecting include ChapStick, cocoa butter lotion, Epsom Salts, water bottles, notebooks, crossword puzzles books, word search books, Sudoku puzzle books, adult and child coloring books, colored pencils, blankets or throws, cards with encouraging words, Lipton boxed soups, popcorn, hard candies, pretzels, and crackers.

Williams also hopes to include gift cards for gas or food in the boxes for cancer patients who travel to treatment centers. Those can be donated by calling the Club Hope Foundation at 724-657-7672.

“I’m doing this in memory of my husband, Sam Williams, and Don Seybert and his son, Chris,” she said, “and so community can support community.”

Williams said watching Sam’s health decline as his lung cancer spread to his brain and adrenal glands was a life-changing experience.

“To watch him go from a really strong man to what cancer did to him was devastating,” she said. “I’m glad we had our faith, because God got us through the days we didn’t think we could.”

She said Shane is now a student at Grove City College studying biblical and religious studies. His plan after earning his bachelor’s degree is to attain his master’s in theology at Grove City, then move on to seminary in the interest of becoming a pastor.

“Our faith is what got us through everything,” Williams said. “Chemo treatments, scans … you don’t know the impact of cancer until you’ve gone through it yourself.”

Atkinson, founder of the Club Hope Foundation, understands Williams’ sentiments exactly.

Atkinson was diagnosed with thyroid cancer several years ago, and underwent surgery to remove it. She did not have to endure any further treatment and remains healthy today.

Her experience with cancer, though milder than many, still led her to initiate Club Hope in 2008.

Club members fill boxes like the ones Williams will distribute and prepare meals for those going through cancer treatment and their families.

Atkinson, a former elementary school teacher in Ellwood City, was also certified to teach any grade. She was moved up to Ellwood City High School in 2008, and established the first Club Hope.

Today, Club Hope is in 32 schools, churches and day care centers. Atkinson just added Seneca Valley Senior High, North Catholic High School and a high school in New Wilmington, Lawrence County.

If a school is not interested in starting a new club, Club Hope fundraisers can be carried out in a Key Club or student council, Atkinson said.

She said for each holiday between Halloween and Easter, Club Hope members receive Oriental Trading Co. craft kits, make the craft, and include an inspirational or hopeful message on the back.

The crafts are then sent to the 20 treatment centers with which Club Hope collaborates, and the crafts are given to patients.

The crafts also are placed inside the Boxes of Hope.

“I get more thank you notes about the crafts than I do the $100 gift cards,” Atkinson said. “They tell me how they put it on the fridge or windowsill to read before they leave for treatment.”

On Oct. 23, Atkinson was at Hillman Center Center in Pittsburgh giving a presentation to oncology nurses on how Club Hope could help their patients.

“It’s not just boxes and gift cards,” Atkinson said. “We are now helping with flights and hotel rooms and bills and all kinds of stuff, and God definitely had his hand in all that.”

She appreciates Williams efforts to help her neighbors who are undergoing cancer treatment.

“It is really, truly the story of Club Hope and someone who was impacted by the little gestures we do,” Atkinson said.

Williams hopes her fellow residents of northern Butler County will turn out to help their neighbors through a difficult time.

“I don’t know anybody here who doesn’t know someone who has cancer, or who knows multiple people with it,” she said. “That’s really why I wanted to do this.”