H.O.W. dinner to benefit Porterville woman

The Porterville Chapter of Helping One Woman (H.O.W.) will be having its monthly dinner at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 16, that honors a recipient who is going through a tough time or loss.

This month’s recipient honored at the event will be Rachel Vasquez who has lived in Porterville all of her life. She has two daughters, Rhiannon, 20 and Natalie, 18. Her husband, Lionel came into their lives when the girls were young. Rachel also has three dogs and eight cats, and works at Save Mart Supermarkets. She has been there for 20 years, but on Feb. 23, Rachel’s world was turned upside down.

After going to the doctor for pain in her arms, Rachel was diagnosed with breast cancer. Recent microscopic testing has given Rachel the diagnosis of Stage 3 Grade 3 Invasive Metaplastic Carcinoma, a rare form of breast cancer accounting for less than 1 percent of all breast cancers. Rachel has gone through chemotherapy treatments to reduce the size of the cancer. She recently had surgery to remove nine lymph nodes and the rest of the cancerous tissue in her breast. She is now finishing up three more treatments of the F.E.C chemotherapy and then will proceed with radiation.

She has been out of work since February and is anxious to get back, but since she’s been gone for so long she is losing her insurance at the end of July. She will have to start paying $600 or more out of pocket for her insurance.

Anyone wishing to help Rachel and her family and friends in supporting her can help at this month’s H.O.W. Dinner. H.O.W. attendees purchase their own meal and provide a $10 cash gift at each month’s dinner. This monetary gift offered to each recipient is a wonderful supplement to help them during their time of loss.

The motto at H.O.W. is if one woman with $10 can buy another woman lunch, then 10 women with $10 can buy another woman groceries and 100 women with $10 can make a real difference in another woman’s life.

Recipients of H.O.W. are always a woman whose family is going through an irreplaceable loss. To nominate someone who has suffered a terrible loss or is going through an unimaginable situation, show up and attend the H.O.W. dinner and complete a nomination form, the next month’s recipient will then be selected that night.

The dinner will be at Elks Lodge, 386 N. Main St., Porterville. For more information, call or text 202-3598

H.O.W. is a non-profit organization run entirely by volunteers and donations. If you’d like to make a tax-deductible donation, make checks payable to: Helping One Woman: PO Box 3375, Pinedale, CA 93650.