Joy Bus Foundation brings meals to cancer patients

The Joy Bus Foundation helps provide chef-prepared meals for homebound cancer patients. The Foundation prepares and delivers the meals to the patients for free, as they primarily rely on donors and donations.

The Foundation launched the “Meals That Matter” fundraiser, with a goal of trying to raise $150,000 by December 31st. That large sum of money would provide 10,000 meals to those who need it most this holiday season.

The foundation was founded by Jennifer Caraway in honor of her friend, Joy, who battled cancer and was lucky enough to have help receiving nutritious meals. After Joy passed away, Jennifer realized there are many cancer patients who must look out for themselves during this difficult time.

In order to ease this burden, the Joy Bus Foundation provides healthy meals tailored to meet the patients’ needs, delivered by volunteers who are often cancer survivors themselves. The Joy Bus Foundation also has a diner where all profits go back to the foundation to provide more meals.

The Founder of the Joy Bus Foundation, Jennifer Caraway, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss more about the foundation and the importance of giving to others.

“We deliver free meals to homebound cancer patients,” Caraway said, “…we’ve been in the valley now for upwards of 15 years, and we’re growing like crazy.”

Caraway emphasized how the human interactions with the volunteers have a tremendous impact on these patients.

“They really take ownership of our mission, they spend time with the clients, they go above and beyond to let this neighbor know that someone’s there who cares about them,” Caraway explained.

According to Caraway, the foundation went from delivering 250 meals a week to handling 1,800 meals in a single day. The “Meals That Matter” fundraiser is an end-of-the-year campaign to try to pay for at least 10,000 meals for their clients.

Caraway had started the foundation around 15 years ago when her friend, Joy, became ill with ovarian cancer.

“I saw that there was a need in the valley to deliver meals to people that maybe didn’t have the same support system as my friend had,” Caraway said, “…and bring real food to their homes.”