Giving back
Mrs. Claus Club creates comfort baskets for cancer patients
Christmas may have come and gone, but members of the Mrs. Claus Club of Bentleyville keep the spirit of giving alive all year-round through their charitable work. Their mission statement describes the club as, “Local women providing comfort baskets to those battling cancer,” and many of the members know that struggle all too well from their own battles with the disease.
For their kind work in our community, the Mrs. Claus Club of Bentleyville has been chosen as the January recipient of the Driven By Hope Award sponsored by Washington Auto Mall.
Friendship is at the heart of the club and how it was founded. Nearly 20 years ago, Virginia Vasko and her friends since childhood started the club after seeing the effects of chemotherapy and radataion on their loved ones. When Vasko unexpectedly died in 2022, Megan Ruse and Courtney Wiltrout stepped in to help lead the group so it could carry on the good work of Vasko and other founding members.
When someone requests a “comfort basket” for a loved one or friend who is fighting cancer, the club puts together a collection of items to help patients while they’re undergoing cancer treatment.
“We call them comfort baskets,” explains Megan Ruse. “There are gas cards, Aquafor, Biotene and stuff like that, and we work with Studio Seven Salon in Washington if the recipient needs a wig. We have a wig bank there.”
The members also personalize the baskets by providing gift cards for favorite restaurants or shops in addition to hygiene products that help with skin and mouth issues that can be caused by chemotherapy and radiation. The items are meant to help comfort patients while they’re fighting their cancer battle and often don’t have the time or energy to gather them for themselves.
“When you get a cancer diagnosis, you’re so caught up in the medical aspect of it like doctor’s appointments and medications and treatments and everything,” says Ruse. “What goes by the wayside is dealing with side effects from those treatments and things you need during those treatments. Studio Seven and Nancy Frazier have also been a fabulous partner from the very beginning. We give them a voucher for $250 to go toward a wig if they need one.”
From fuzzy blankets and socks to keep warm to crossword puzzles to pass the time during treatment, each basket is assembled with care. “Then we each individually take turns when the baskets come in and we’ll go out and personally shop for items that reflect those things that that requester has put in: If they like the Steelers or they like to garden or love dogs or they’re a grandma,” says Wiltrout. “Little things that reflect that like gardening books or other books or book lights. That gives them something to do while they’re spending hours at the cancer center getting chemo. One thing in particular that the recipients like are chemo port seat belt pillows so that your seat belt isn’t irritating your port on your collarbone.”
The group raises money to help purchase supplies for the baskets and its biggest fundraiser each year is a gala in November.
“When we started out in Bentleyville, we were at the Bentleyville Fire Hall,” Wiltrout says. “It’s grown and grown and grown, where we’ve outgrown that now we hold our event at the Washington County Fairgrounds.”
This past November, the event sold out with more than 500 attending for dinner, a live auction and raffles for prize baskets. Ruse says the Washington County community is also a great support for the club’s work with many sponsors and donations along with some Bentworth High School team fundraisers also going to the club.
Both Wiltrout and Ruse remember when founder Virginia Vasko was a teacher in the Bentworth School District and led the Leo Club, which helped raise money for the Mrs. Claus Club.
“We come from a small community in Bentleyville, and even though we no longer hold the gala there, they still support us, the high school and the kids and everyone,” says Wiltrout. “People who now come to our event are from all over Washington County. Our sponsors are from all over Washington County.”
With every basket they put together, they remember what Vasko taught them.
“This is how we were raised,” says Wiltrout. “My mom and Virginia were very good friends. That’s what she taught us to do is to give back.”
Ruse admits that Vasko’s unexpected passing brought a lot of tears, but the ladies wanted to carry on her work.
“We both just knew that the amount of good and the impact that our organization has put into the community needed to be continued,” she says. “Our organization is so impactful for our local community, and that’s why we want to keep doing what we do, because we can see it.”
For more information on the club or to request a basket or make a donation, please visit the club’s website at mrsclausclubofbentleyville.com.