Eric Halvorson
Kroger Media spokesman
When someone is diagnosed with cancer, “you get bombarded with all of these things that you need, so there’s a financial toxicity that comes with cancer.”
Financial toxicity.
That was a new term to me, introduced by Mandy Pietrykowski, Director and CEO of Little Red Door Cancer Agency. We recently talked during Cancer Survivors' Day at the Indiana State Fair. The agency and its partners joined to celebrate those who beat cancer, how the rest of us can reduce our risk of contracting it, and for those who receive the terrifying diagnosis, “how they can help navigate themselves through cancer.”
Mandy says that diagnosis sends people “down a scary path. Not only with cancer but getting their basic needs met.”
Thirty-nine percent of new cancer patients in Indiana “Can no longer feed themselves because of the cost of cancer,” says Mandy. “For someone living on a fixed income that’s the difference between “Do I pay my rent? Do I pay my electricity? Do I pay my doctor? Do I buy my food?” That’s financial toxicity.
Kroger strives to reduce that burden with an annual donation of $7,500 to Little Red Door. Those funds, presented by division president Colleen Juergensen, support the purchase of nutritional supplements that assist cancer patients when proper meals are essential to their treatment. It's food as medicine.
Mandy says this gift will provide over 10,000 meals for Hoosiers who need help getting through cancer.
Kroger couldn’t be happier to assist Little Red Door in this life-giving contribution, making the fight against cancer part of our Zero Hunger/Zero Waste plan.