SOLANO COUNTY, Calif. — When life gives you lemons… help your community! It's what Donna Quintero decided to do when she launched her nonprofit, Pink Lemonade, back in 2012.
She works out of and operates within Solano County to help cancer patients and their families “make life a little sweet during a sour time.”
After losing her mother to breast cancer when she was 7 years old, then going on to battle the same type of cancer in 2008, Donna decided she wanted to make a change to the lives of those in similar situations.
“I remember how helpful it was to have friends and family doing things for me when I had cancer, so I thought I’d pay it forward,” she said.
Those helpful things? Making meals, mowing her lawn, helping with chores around the house, taking care of the kids and being generally supportive to her and her husband during treatment.
Donna says she didn’t want to provide services already available for people to use. After some research, she realized meals for cancer patients and their families didn't really exist.
“Our church had come together and was bringing us meals and that was so helpful,” she said. “So we thought ‘Well, we can cook meals, we can bring meals to people who are going through it.’”
The Pink Lemonade website says Donna and her team have served over 12,800 meals since 2012. They used to make the food themselves and deliver it to their clients, but COVID protocols had them order takeout from LeanFeast instead.
She serves them to folks like Chasity Baltazar, an oncology nurse going through treatment for her second battle with breast cancer.
"With my first bout of cancer, I really didn't reach out or ask for help. I just wanted to bear down and get through the journey," said Chasity. "When the second time came around, it was hard because I knew what I was in store for. Pink Lemonade showed up and has been helping tremendously."
She has two sons, her husband and two dogs at her home in Dixon also getting support from Pink Lemonade through meals.
Chasity worked with children who had cancer for 14 years, giving them treatments and supporting them through the process. In 2016, she began her own treatment and was eventually hired at the clinic she went to — now she's able to share her experiences with the adult cancer patients she serves.
While cancer and going through treatment is hard, Chasity is keeping her head up with the support of her loved ones and Pink Lemonade who she calls "a complete blessing."
"[Having cancer] has made me appreciate life more than I ever did... I really appreciated the little things like the sun and the flowers," she said. "I'm sad I'm dealing with this again, but I'm still here. I'm still here for my kids, my friends, my family, my husband. That makes it worth it."
Find more information on Pink Lemonade HERE.
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