Jennifer Moore and Roxanne Baer first met as children at a Dayton area Boys & Girls Club.

Years later, after taking different paths through life, the longtime friends found themselves working with cancer patients at Kettering Health. Their friend Mary Brown, whom they have known for decades, followed a similar path.

“Life just took us down the same path, which happened to be the oncology service line with Kettering,” Moore said. “We didn’t really bring each other into the service line. We just both ended up here.”

Today, Moore serves as outpatient oncology manager for medical and radiation oncology at Soin Medical Center. Baer is supervisor of quality, accreditation and compliance for Kettering Health’s Breast Centers. Brown, a former Kettering Health employee, now works with gynecologic oncology patients through UC Health.

Together, the three friends now work in cancer-related healthcare roles, helping patients and families navigate some of life’s most difficult moments.

“We’re like family,” Moore said.

Working so closely with cancer patients gave the friends a firsthand look at the challenges families face beyond diagnosis and treatment.

“We just see what families go through and how hard it is on people,” Baer said. “It just makes you want to do more.”

That desire to help led the group to Pink Ribbon Good. Brown first became involved through her work with oncology patients and later encouraged Moore and Baer to join her.

The nonprofit provides practical support for people and families affected by breast and gynecological cancers, including meals, transportation, housecleaning essentials and peer support. Over time, volunteering with the organization gave the friends a deeper understanding of the impact community support can have on patients and caregivers.

Earlier this year, Moore, Baer, Brown and longtime friend Alexis Koller organized a Galentine’s-themed music bingo fundraiser at Brightside Event Center in downtown Dayton.

The event sold out, drawing more than 100 attendees and raising approximately $8,000 for Pink Ribbon Good.

“We knocked it out of the park,” Baer said.

The fundraiser brought together friends, family members and volunteers, including Baer’s husband, who served as the event’s DJ.

For both Moore and Baer, the work is personal.

Moore lost her husband to colon cancer in 2011. Baer has had three aunts diagnosed with breast cancer.

Combined with what they see every day caring for patients, those experiences strengthened their desire to help families beyond the clinical setting.

“You always feel like, ‘I wish there was something I could do to help this patient,'” Baer said. “By volunteering, I feel like I’m helping a little bit of everybody that’s going through their cancer journey.”

Moore agreed.

“Anything that you can do to take a little bit of burden away from them is huge at that time in their life,” she said.

Volunteering with Pink Ribbon Good also helped reinforce an idea Moore had considered for years.

After losing her husband, she often talked about creating a foundation in his memory. Seeing the difference organizations like Pink Ribbon Good could make for patients eventually inspired her to take the next step.

Organizing events gave the friends confidence, too.

“We realized, like, we’re kind of good at this,” Moore said. “I think we could do this.”

Earlier this year, she launched Nope, Not Today Cancer, a nonprofit that supports local colon cancer patients and their families. Moore said the organization helps patients with practical needs such as groceries, gas, utilities and other everyday expenses that can become overwhelming during treatment.

“I just want to see that there is support available locally,” Moore said. “It’s nice to be able to take one headache or one worry out of their day.”

The organization’s website says it was created to support local colon cancer patients and families facing the financial, practical and emotional challenges that often accompany a diagnosis.

Moore said her friends have been supportive from the beginning.

“Hopefully we can get Jennifer’s nonprofit really big,” Baer said. “It’ll take a really long time to get to the level of Pink Ribbon Good. They are really big. But we definitely have goals and see it growing quite a bit.”

For the three friends, volunteering has become a natural extension of the care they provide every day.

“It just fills your cup,” Moore said.

Their efforts reflect Kettering Health’s mission of living God’s love by promoting and restoring health, not only through the care they provide on the job, but through the support they offer long after patients leave a clinic or treatment center.

“If somebody needs a hand, give it to them,” Moore said. “Without expecting anything back.”