ADDISON, Ill. (WGN) — A two-time cancer survivor says the encouragement he received through cards and care packages was a lifeline to him while battling the disease. In the years since he’s been cancer-free, he’s given back tenfold, spreading hope to thousands of people fighting cancer.
“Phil’s Friends began after the second time I had stage 4 cancer,” said Phil Zielke, founder of Phil’s Friends. “A group of people put a care package together for me. They all signed their names to it, saying they were thinking about me and praying for me.”
After becoming cancer-free in 2006, Zielke said he wanted to share the same encouragement he received from others.
“They go out in decorated boxes and have a bunch of comforting items in there,” Zielke said of the care packages sent out by Phil’s Friends. “They show up anonymously at people’s doorsteps or we deliver them to people’s hospital rooms.”
Volunteers come to an online map and pick the name of a person the care package is going to go to before the magic starts to happen. At that point, volunteers assemble the care package and send them on their way.
After 18 years of doing just that, Phil’s Friends has shipped more than 60,000 care packages and one million cards sharing encouragement to those battling cancer.
“We had planned on supporting 6,500 patients and families this year, but we’re on track for 10,000,” Zielke said.
Volunteer Anjela McGrone, a triple-negative breast cancer survivor and current Phil’s Friends board member, received one of their care packages after she was diagnosed with the disease back in 2017.
“When I got out of the hospital a couple of weeks later there was a box waiting for me,” McGrone said. “In that box was a bible, a blanket, a cup, a hat for my head, socks for my feet.”
The care package came from McGrone’s former oncology nurse, Angie Monaco, who is also a breast cancer survivor and Phil’s Friends volunteer.
“I met one of my best friends through Phil’s Friends,” Monaco said. “I know for a fact that this type of cancer package brings hope to people and it’s just what they need at their lowest.”
