TAKING STEPS TO MAKE LIFE EASIER FOR THOSE AFFECTED BY CANCER

Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Renee Lynn Scott. Read her story, and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.

Renee Lynn Scott was shocked when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer at age 28. The special education teacher was undergoing infertility treatments to start a family with her husband, and her world was turned upside down. She and her husband had just built their dream home, and their lives were put on hold to deal with the onslaught of her disease. But facing cancer didn’t stop Renee from helping others.

After doing some volunteer work at a local cancer center, Renee realized that people living with cancer in her community weren’t having their needs met. Many who were working when they were diagnosed with cancer could no longer remain at their jobs, creating a significant financial burden for their families. In 2005, Renee established Stepping Stone Support, an organization dedicated to helping people affected by cancer.

Two of the organization’s biggest components include Survivor’s Helper, a program that lessens the financial burden of the holidays on families dealing with cancer by providing wish list gifts, prepared meals, toys, clothing and gift certificates. The second component is the S.T.E.P. Program (Survivorship, Tone, Exercise, Personal Training), a free health and fitness program for those affected by cancer and their immediate family members. It follows Renee’s goal of promoting a healthy body and mind.

Renee’s passion for bettering the lives of people with cancer also comes with a goal to inspire young people to help others. She frequently brings young people into the organization to fulfill community service requirements, but sees them ultimately blossom into driven volunteers in their own right. In addition to raising thousands of dollars to support her mission, she has created a variety of community partnerships with area youth groups, businesses and other nonprofits to empower people, young and old, to make a change in the world.

Renee just celebrated her 25th year cancer-free and has established a force for good within her community. Her story of turning a terrifying journey through cancer into a lesson on how to help others shows how influential volunteer work can be.

What inspired you to get started with this initiative?

I was diagnosed at 28 years old with cervical cancer while my husband and I were starting our family. I had always done volunteer work, but I was diagnosed with cancer while I was just beginning my teaching career. We were in the middle of starting our family, and I was going through a lot of infertility treatments after a miscarriage and some IVF treatments. I was diagnosed with aggressive cervical cancer, and my life was completely upended. After I had several surgeries, I started doing some volunteer work and saw a need in the community that wasn’t being addressed to provide support and resources to people. There were a lot of resources available for lower-income individuals, but not for middle-income individuals.

Tell us about your volunteer role with Stepping Stone Support.

I volunteer anywhere from five to seven days a week. Sometimes it’s two hours a day, other times it’s 10. I run the entire charity. I’m networking daily with local businesses. I meet with different businesspeople to share ideas about how to get them involved in our mission. I run all the social media. I do all the marketing and have committee meetings. I meet with youth groups to engage our youth volunteers. Two years ago, we opened a fitness center to offer free personal training and nutrition coaching to cancer survivors and their family members to help promote a healthy body and mind.

What are your long-term plans or goals for the organization?

Our long-term goals are to get enough funding to create a larger fitness center that includes an area where our Survivor’s Helper recipients can come help others. We collect and wrap gifts during the holidays, so we would like the opportunity to have a bigger space. But with rent being so expensive on Long Island, it’s been very challenging for us.

What’s been the most rewarding part of your work?

The most rewarding part is seeing how involved my son has been from the time he was 3 years old. His involvement and the support of my husband and my family have been unwavering. That is so rewarding to me, but to also see so many families that we’ve adopted come back and want to help, even if we’ve lost a cancer survivor. The family members have come back and become part of our committees. That’s how many people believe in our mission and want to support the cause.

What have you learned through your experiences as a volunteer?

I’ve learned that through loss and tragedy, we can use that significant trauma in our lives to truly find the need in the community and change what’s happening. I think it’s important that people use their own stories and their voices to make a positive impact. Even if they don’t think that they can, they truly can make such a huge difference in the lives of other people by just showing support, compassion and empathy, and giving whatever they can of themselves.

Tell us about future partnerships, programs or events that you are excited about.

For our 20th anniversary, we’re going to be having a charity concert with the New York Rockabilly Rockets. We’re very excited about that. And then we have our annual Family Volunteer Day every November to kick off the season of giving. We’re looking forward to that.

Why is it important for others to get involved with causes they care about?

It’s about connecting people with the community. I think that it’s so important for volunteers to get involved. If adults get involved, they show the youth how to think about what they can give of themselves. They’re able to see what other people are doing in the community to make a positive impact, and it may positively impact them to want to continue to contribute. I’ve seen that over and over.

What do you want people to learn from your story?

I think it’s important that everybody takes a look at what’s happening in the community, and whether they see something that they feel needs to change. If their own story can help create that change, they should follow up on that and not just look the other way. If you feel like what you’re going through and what you’re suffering from can be used to create positive change, then try to do something about it. Whether it’s partnering with another nonprofit or creating one on your own, like I did, I think that it can help you heal.

Do you want to make a difference in your community like Renee? Find local volunteer opportunities.