Food Pantry Coordinator Has Cancer, Here's How You Can Help

ORLAND PARK, IL — The Orland Township Food Pantry has long been a service helping residents of Tinley Park, Orland Park and Orland Hills in need. It's open daily at the Township office and provides food to residents who fall at or below a certain income level.

Since 2016, it has been run by Robin Kassis of Tinley Park. Kassis works full-time as coordinator at the pantry, both organizing the day-to-day operations and coordinating food drives and several other special events.

She says the pantry serves about 1,200 people, part of 330 families, every month. The pantry will also help out-of-township residents on a one-time basis and help them find the pantry closest to their homes.

"I love it," Kassis, who raised four children all alone, says of her role as head of the food pantry. "It's like we are a mini grocery store when getting all the food donations coming in. Clients come in for a lot of different reasons, but working with the volunteers is the best. We have some really amazing people helping out."

But after several years of helping others in need, now's a chance for the community to step up and help someone who has helped them.

Just three months ago, Kassis learned she had been diagnosed with triple negative invasive inductive carcinoma, an aggressive form of breast cancer.

"It is a grade 3 cancer, which means it is considered very aggressive," Kassis said. "With this type of cancer the first five years are critical because it could come back fast and furious."

With few treatment options available to fight this disease, Kassis' daughter, Taylor has started a GoFundMe to try and raise the $35,000 that would be needed to get the best one.

"My mom is the strongest woman I know, but my 3 siblings and I don't want this diagnoses and all that comes with it to take everything out of her," Taylor Kassis wrote in the description of the fundraising effort. "If she were to die from this aggressive form of cancer, I could not live knowing that there was a treatment out there that would have given us more time with our mom.

"I could not live wondering if we could have had more Christmas's together, more graduations together, more time for her to see her four kids get married, to know her grandchildren, and to spend a full lifetime with her family."

Donate to 'Please Help Us Help Our Mom' via GoFundMe here.