Hope Lodges offer cancer patients a home base for care

When battling cancer, patients often have to travel hundreds of miles to get the proper treatment. Finding a place to stay can be stressful and costly. The American Cancer Society seeks to ease that concern by providing a home away from home in Hope Lodges located across the country.

Posted 10:06 p.m. Feb 25, 2015 — Updated 11:36 p.m. Feb 25, 2015

ATLANTA — When battling cancer, patients often have to travel hundreds of miles to get the proper treatment. Finding a place to stay can be stressful and costly.

The American Cancer Society seeks to ease that concern by providing a home away from home in what it calls “Hope Lodges” located across the country.

In Atlanta, Danny Shletz is the director of a Hope Lodge where guests and their caregivers can stay for free but not without responsibility.

"All of the guests have chores," he said. "We believe that helps with the environment. You're going to have chores at home, so why not have them here?"

There are 31 Hope Lodges nationwide, each with a small staff and a group of dedicated and trained volunteers.

"The best thing about the Hope Lodge is we get to see lives transformed with hope," Shletz said. "Brick and mortar is just brick and mortar, but when you see a transformed heart because of the emotional support that we're able to give, I think that's what makes my job the best job in the whole wide world."

The lodges have been around since 1970, and there is one in Greenville.

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