MIDLAND, Texas — With Thanksgiving just two days away, one Midland non-profit helped serve a part of the community on Tuesday that has enough on their plate already.
One Bite At A Time Ministries delivered meals to 100 families who have someone currently battling cancer.
“My husband had the vision and we just took it and ran with it," said Paula Gower, CEO of One Bite At A Time Ministries.
On a cold November morning, there was plenty of holiday warmth filling the air.
“We hope that we reach their hearts and let them know that someone’s thinking about them [and] someone’s praying for them," Gower said.
One Bite At A Time Ministries is a cancer-care ministry, and their first annual "Gobble Up Cancer" initiative is giving patients going through cancer treatment one less thing to worry about.
“Navigating through holidays and navigating through really any big event while you’re going through cancer’s a lot – going through cancer’s a lot period," Gower said. "So, if we can step in and make that walk and make their holiday a little bit easier, then it was a job well done.”
Gower herself knows what it’s like to try and balance it all.
“I’m a cancer survivor myself and cancer’s a blind disease – you have no idea what to do, where to go, how to do it, who to call, anything," Gower said.
On Tuesday, serving a meal with help from volunteers and businesses created a reality that aligns with their mission.
“Kind of the whole premise behind One Bite is we give them a care package that has information about One Bite and our support groups, it has an elephant in there – so, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. How do you fight cancer? One bite at a time," Gower said. "So, we try to walk with the people through their battle of cancer, try to be a resource center [and] try to help them find anything that they need to make their walk a little bit easier.”
To cap off the Thanksgiving care package were elephant stuffed animals.
“Now we have 100 elephants going out there today, yeah," Gower said.