When cancer enters a family’s life, the diagnosis is only the beginning.
There are appointments and treatments. Bills and missed work. Questions about what comes next. And sometimes, the simplest things—gas for the drive to treatment, groceries for the week or help with a utility bill—can suddenly feel overwhelming.
For Janet Graham, helping people through those difficult moments is personal.
Janet came to Loving Arms Cancer Outreach as a volunteer in 2012. She loved the organization and its mission so much that she joined the staff in 2014. Today, as Executive Director, she leads an organization dedicated to supporting cancer patients and their families throughout their cancer journey.
In this photo: Janet Graham with Pamela during a LACO Beauty Room appointment, where patients experiencing hair loss can find free wigs, hats, scarves and other items generously donated by the community to remind them that cancer can never take away their beauty or strength.
Loving Arms was founded in 2011 by two oncology nurses, Shamichael Traylor and Diana Hurst, nurses with a combined 35-plus years of experience in caring for cancer patients. After hearing the needs of those receiving chemo infusions, they started by quietly paying for parking, providing gas money, and helping with bills. They soon realized there was a bigger need than they could carry alone, and so Loving Arms was born. What began with small acts of help grew into an organization offering financial assistance, support groups, education, resources and other services to families facing cancer.
In this photo: Founders and oncology nurses, Shamichael Traylor and Diana Hurst
For the people Loving Arms serves, that support can mean knowing they don’t have to face cancer alone.
Rhonda Richardson knows that feeling. Diagnosed with breast cancer at 40, just as she was adjusting to life as a new mother. She described the shock of hearing the words “it’s cancer” and the physical and emotional challenges that followed. But she also remembers what came next: the people at Loving Arms who helped her, made her feel like family, and gave her a place that connected her with people who understood what she was going through.
That is the work Janet is helping to sustain—and grow. But she knew she needed additional tools and skills to help Loving Arms become stronger and more sustainable.
So Janet applied for a six-month program that helps local nonprofit leaders build their skills in fundraising, strategy, operations and leadership. At the end of the program, she received a $5,000 unrestricted “Big Finish” grant and used it to launch Loving Arms’ first-ever texting campaign to raise money during a local holiday giveathon.
That new approach helped raise nearly $108,000 for cancer patients in crisis. The six-month program was CCF’s Certified Nonprofit Professional program. The holiday giveathon was CCF’s 2025 Match Magic campaign. And both these opportunities were made possible by people who believe in the power of strong nonprofits:
- CCF’s Corporate Champions and Catalyst Society members who knew that strengthening nonprofit leaders can strengthen the organizations and the communities they serve, and
- The Match Magic donors who supported Loving Arms during the campaign.
That is the quiet power of collective giving, and Janet’s story shows why investing in nonprofit leaders matters.
When a community invests in a leader, that investment doesn’t stop with one person. It strengthens the organization behind them—and gives that organization more capacity to serve the people who need it most.
To learn more about Loving Arms Cancer Outreach, click here.
To learn more about the Corporate Community Champion program, click here, the Catalyst Society, click here, or Match Magic, click here.
