Ceres Client Evie Tuxaw
speaking at One Hundred Sets of Hands
Lynmar Estate, September 2010

      I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer on December 31, 2009 when I had surgery for removal of an ovarian cyst and a total hysterectomy. Up to that time I was a very active, athletic, marketer for our family farm, Tierra Vegetables, in Santa Rosa. I had been eating well and living what I thought was a healthy lifestyle.

      Cancer took me by total surprise and rocked my life.

      After my surgery and diagnosis one of my friends told me I should contact the Ceres Project in Sebastopol. I was hesitant to call as I really didn't think I qualified. We have our own farm,we eat well, AND my friends had been bringing me food. . .

      I did call and told them my story. They told me that my friends WOULD NEED SOME SUPPORT . Ceres would provide food, not only for me but for my husband.

      The next thing I knew I was set up for a weekly delivery of food.

      I was skeptical at first. I am very picky about what I eat and I had been told that one of the meals every week would include fish. I went along but was sure that I wouldn't be able to eat the fish. How could re-heated fish be any good???

      As it turned out, my first delivery was on one of the worst days of my chemo. I had just started and I was feeling terrible. I got home from my infusion and soon after, the delivery arrived. The combo of food included chicken, vegetables, a soup and other sides and…fish!

      Oh my goodness, fish. I knew we had to eat it that night. How could it be any good? Re-heated fish?? That night it was seabass and it was one of the best fish dishes I have ever had! It was restaurant quality and so fresh and delicious. We ate it all, and after that meal I felt so much better. That was the beginning of an amazing more than four month relationship with the Ceres project, and their loving food.

      The meals arrived every Thursday afternoon. Like a Pavlovian pup I looked forward to Thursdays and what would be in the weekly meals. Even on the days I felt awful, I was able to eat most of the food as it was so delicious and seemed to be geared to what I wanted and needed.

      We always ate it all. My husband would wait until I had eaten my fill and had my seconds before he would take his seconds and finish it off. Here's the thing I want you all to know about my experience. With every bite, I could feel the love that went into the preparation of the food. I knew that volunteer teens had prepared most all of it with the help of volunteer chefs. I knew that the ingredients were very fresh, of the highest quality and that many of them had also been donated.

      All the love that was put into the food was, in turn, put into my body. I know it helped in my healing and recovery and it certainly helped me gain the 25 pounds I had lost!

      We are all so lucky to have this amazing organization in our community. We now are donating vegetables when we can and plan to be a major supplier for the sauerkraut. My hope is that someday there will be a Ceres program in every community. I urge you all to give all the financial support that you can to this amazing organization.

      Thank you