Shared Online Calendar Helps Communities Organize Meals for Families Coping with Breast Cancer

WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J., Oct. 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Eisai Inc., along with collaborators CancerCare and Cancer Support Community, have announced meal Trains^SM sponsored by Magnolia™, which aim to broaden the positive impact of providing meals to patients living with breast cancer and their families during treatment. mealTrain.com is a free, easy-to-use, shared online calendar that streamlines the process of giving and receiving meals to households going through a challenging or difficult time.

(Logo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120413/MM87168LOGO)

To date, mealTrain.com has helped over 120,000 families with over 2,500 meals organized through the site per day.ⁱ  Now, the Eisai Women's Oncology Program – Magnolia™, is working with its advocacy partners to focus this important tool on helping to meet the needs of people living with breast cancer around the country.  

"Through our many programs we've learned that it can be extremely difficult for people to ask for and accept assistance, even when undergoing treatment for cancer.  So saying, 'let me know how I can help,' is not always the right approach," said Kathy Nugent, director of social services at CancerCare. "With mealTrain.com, caregivers and friends can schedule and organize the delivery of home-cooked meals to those undergoing treatment for breast cancer, providing needed support without being asked." 

To start a Magnolia sponsored meal Train, people living with breast cancer, their caregivers, friends or family can visit www.mealTrain.com/mmt and enter the code MagnoliaC. When visiting the website, remember to include "/mmt" (Magnolia meal Train) to find the breast cancer-specific page. The meal Train organizer is led through a simple process that includes identifying dates when support will be needed, as well as food likes, dislikes and allergies. Next, an email is sent to friends and neighbors inviting them to sign-up to prepare and deliver a meal. Helpful resources and links about living with breast cancer are also available.

The program collaborators are working to raise awareness of mealTrain.com during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM) with the goal of encouraging the initiation of 1,000 new meal Trains sponsored by Magnolia in October. For each new Magnolia sponsored meal Train started during NBCAM, Eisai will make a donation of $25 to one of nine cancer support groups, up to a total donation of $25,000. Meal Train organizers will have the opportunity to choose one of the nine advocacy groups on the list to receive the donation.

"In our work to help support people living with breast cancer, we've seen first-hand how important meal time assistance can be in freeing up time for families to spend together," said Christine Verini, vice president, Corporate Communications and Advocacy at Eisai Inc. "mealTrain.com helps to provide an infrastructure for communities to deliver this much needed support to households coping with the stress of breast cancer treatment."

mealTrain.com, including Magnolia sponsored meal Trains, is an independent site owned and run by Meal Train LLC. Eisai does not control or monitor the site or content. mealTrain.com respects your privacy and will not share or sell your information. Read the privacy policy at: www.mealTrain.com/privacy.aspx.

About Eisai Inc.

Eisai Inc. is the U.S. pharmaceutical operation of Eisai Co., Ltd., a research-based human health care (hhc) company that discovers, develops and markets products throughout the world. Headquartered in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, Eisai's key areas of commercial focus are neurology and oncology. For more information, please visit www.eisai.com/US.

The Eisai hhc mission states that, "we give our first thoughts to patients and their families and to increasing the benefits health care provides." The Eisai Women's Oncology Program – Magnolia, fulfills the Eisai hhc mission by placing patients at the center of everything we do. We place a high value on face-to-face interaction and socialization with women living with cancer, giving them a way to address their challenges. More than just a program sponsor, at Eisai our employees are necessary to bring our programs to life.

About CancerCare

Founded in 1944, CancerCare® is one of the largest organizations providing comprehensive support services to people affected by cancer. CancerCare helps individuals, families, caregivers and the bereaved cope with, and manage, both the emotional and practical challenges of cancer. All of our services are provided by professional oncology social workers and are offered completely free of charge. 

A national, nonprofit 501c(3), CancerCare's free services include counseling, support groups, educational workshops and resources, programs, such as wig clinics and meditation workshops, and financial and co-pay assistance. To learn more, visit www.cancercare.org or call 800-813-HOPE (4673).

About the Cancer Support Community

The mission of the Cancer Support Community ("CSC") is to ensure that all people impacted by cancer are empowered by knowledge, strengthened by action and sustained by community. In 2009, The Wellness Community and Gilda's Club joined forces to become the Cancer Support Community. The combined organization, with more than 50 years of collective experience, provides the highest quality social and emotional support for people impacted by cancer through a network of 50 licensed affiliates, more than 100 satellite locations, and a vibrant online community, touching more than one million people each year.

Backed by evidence that the best cancer care includes social and emotional support, the Cancer Support Community offers these services free of charge to men, women, and children with any type or stage of cancer, and to their loved ones. As the largest, professionally led, nonprofit network of cancer support worldwide, the Cancer Support Community delivers a comprehensive menu of personalized and essential services including support groups, educational workshops, exercise, art and nutrition classes, and social activities for the entire family. In 2011, CSC delivered more than $40 million in free services to patients and families. The Cancer Support Community is advancing the innovations that are becoming the standard in complete cancer care.  For more information, visit www.CancerSupportCommunity.org.

All media inquiries please contact:
Laurie Landau
Eisai Inc. 
201-746-2510

mealTrain.com is an independent site owned and run by Meal Train LLC. Eisai does not control or monitor the site or content. mealTrain.com respects your privacy and will not share or sell your information. Read the privacy policy at: www.mealTrain.com/privacy.aspx.

The Cancer Support Community logo is a registered service mark of CSC.

CancerCare is a registered trademark of CancerCare Inc.

Magnolia™ is a trademark of Eisai Inc.

Meal Train^SM is a trademark of Meal Train LLC                                                       

ⁱ Meal Train LLC. (2010). Societal Impact of mealTrain.com. Retrieved from http://www.mealtrain.com/. Accessed on September 4, 2013.

SOURCE Eisai Inc.