In a recent anonymous survey offered to participants before and after a program at Cactus Cancer Society, just 10% of participants said they felt like they were part of a community before the program began.

Afterward?

100%. 100% felt they belonged after taking part in the program.

This number has stayed with me because somewhere along the way, people who arrived not feeling like they belonged, found a community of people who understood what it means to face cancer as a young adult.

With your past support of Cactus Cancer Society, you’ve helped make spaces that support belonging possible.

And the need is growing. Cancer diagnoses among young adults are increasing. And each person who hears the words “you have cancer” may suddenly find themselves navigating an experience that separates them from their peers at exactly the time in life when connection matters so much.

Young adults facing cancer need places where they don’t have to explain what it means to face cancer at this age. Where they can make something, connect, show up as they are, and find people who get it. A place where they can belong.

But belonging doesn’t happen just because we put a few people in a Zoom room together.

It takes thoughtful programs. Skilled facilitators. Art supplies packed and shipped to participants’ homes. Technology that connects people across the country. Staff working behind the scenes to make sure each experience feels welcoming, intentional, and worth coming back to.

To meet this growing need, we’re inviting 15 people to help us Grow Belonging. Over the next 2 weeks, we’re asking 15 people to join as monthly donors for the first time or to increase their already monthly support.

Why monthly? Because belonging takes intentional planning and execution. By joining The Greenhouse, our community of monthly donors, you give Cactus Cancer Society something particularly powerful: steady, flexible support we can count on throughout the year. Your monthly gift helps create a steady foundation that makes it possible to plan ahead, commit to facilitators and programs, send the supplies, keep participation free, and create more opportunities throughout the year for young adults to find their people.

Your monthly gift doesn’t have to fund an entire program on its own. That’s the beauty of The Greenhouse. One person gives $10 a month. Another gives $25. Someone else gives $50.

Together, those gifts become the foundation that lets connection keep happening and belonging keep growing.

We’ve seen what can happen when we intentionally create the conditions for belonging. We’ve watched 10% become 100%.

Now we’re looking for 15 people who believe young adults facing cancer deserve more opportunities to experience that kind of community.

Will you be one of them?

Together, we can grow belonging.

Grow Belonging

Young adults facing cancer need places where they don’t have to explain what it means to face cancer at this age. Where they can make something, connect, show up as they are, and find people who get it. A place where they can belong.