HOUSTON — KHOU is putting a call out on Nextdoor: Share your good news with us! That’s how Mike Moore sent us details about Houston Haven, a nonprofit organization that Moore describes as "uplifting."
This is how the organization describes itself online:
Houston Haven Ministry was formed to provide short-term housing for patients and their families traveling to Houston for cancer treatment.
Jane Nodskov's mother, Patty Holloway, was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2011 and they immediately went to MD Anderson for treatment. While meeting patients from all over the world, Patty would say how thankful she was to live within a few miles of the Texas Medical Center. Patty was brave in her cancer battle and fought to the very end.
In honor of Patty, Houston Haven wants to provide her townhouse as the first property for Houston Haven to help other families going through cancer treatment at MD Anderson.
Houston Haven opened its second home, a single-story home in a Willowbrook neighborhood, this month.
“Even though we’re all going through a pandemic, those people still have cancer," Nodskov said. "They still have to wake up and figure out how they’re going to survive. We want to be their home away from home.”
Because of generous donations, Houston Haven is able to charge families $30 a day to rent the entire home. The organization also works to help families with other things like meals while in Houston.
The first home, which belonged to Nodskov's mother, is about five miles from the Texas Medical Center.
“I think she would be really proud," Nodskov said. I think she would be excited that we’re taking something that was not a great situation and we’re turning it into a way to help other people. I think she’d be really happy about it.”
Houston Haven Ministry aspires to build a complex for cancer-fighting families: A large property with multiple homes on site.
To learn more, go to www.HoustonHaven.com where you can read about how your neighbors are helping neighbors from all across the U.S.
“We want it to a place where people come and they feel peaceful and they feel healing and they feel comfortable," Nodskov said. "And it feels like home.”