Executive Director, Cancer Connection
She Brings Connectivity and a Punk Rock Ethos to a Scrappy Nonprofit
Two decades before Chelsea Kline took the reins at Cancer Connection, her mother was one of its early participants.
“It was such a relief to me that she had supports here at Cancer Connection that I could not provide,” Kline recalled. “I was young, I was a single mom, and she was going through such a terrible time, so I was grateful to have a place where people really understood and had connections to resources and were able to listen deeply and support in a way that that I couldn’t — which I think is the case for many caregivers. It’s hard to watch someone you love be in pain.”
The organization’s impact on Kline’s mother was so profound that her daughter emptied her piggybank on numerous occasions to donate to Cancer Connection because she knew how much
it had benefited her grandmother. And through her time working there, and especially since becoming executive director in 2022, Kline has come to appreciate that impact even more.
“When caregivers and people with a diagnosis come to us, they don’t have to put on a front; they don’t have to smile or brush it off — they can be real here. I saw that with my mom, that she had a place where she could just be real and honest with her fear or her pain or her anger, whatever it is. There are so many emotions that come along with a diagnosis.”
Kline, who earned a bachelor’s degree in religion and biblical literature at Smith College and a master’s degree in theological studies at Harvard Divinity School, spent several years overseeing leadership and organizational studies at Bay Path University before operating Chelsea Sunday Coaching for four years, a consulting business that helped many nonprofits in transition. In between, she ran for Massachusetts State Senate in 2018, garnering 41% of the vote.
But her interest all along was in supporting people who are struggling, and alleviating suffering. She found the perfect outlet for both at Cancer Connection.
During her graduate studies, “that’s where I really dug in with pastoral care and counseling and the whole concept of being present for people in hard times and in transition, and also the whole concept of the third space: we have our home, we have our work, and where’s the third space that we go? Is it a bar? Is it a church? Is it a community center? Is it a barbershop?”
Especially since COVID, she went on, those third spaces have become less robust and well-attended. But Cancer Connection can be a very particular kind of third space for people who need it.
“Our mission is very focused, but it’s a a really important community space where people can come and be held and be heard and feel connected and feel that they belong. And that, to me, is like magic,” Kline said. “That is so beautiful and so important. What could be more important?”
“Our mission is very focused, but it’s a a really important community space where people can come and be held and be heard and feel connected and feel that they belong. And that, to me, is like magic.”
When founders Jackie Walker and Deb Orgera launched the Northampton-based nonprofit in 2000, Kline said, their vision involved a concept known as befriending, which evolved out of the Samaritans model, which is a hotline for people in crisis. Essentially, Cancer Connection is a place to talk to someone, free of expectations or judgment.
Meanwhile, the nonprofit has evolved over the years to include support groups for different types of cancer and aspects of the cancer experience, from caregiving to self-care; integrative therapies like massage, acupuncture, Reiki, and energy balancing to treat cancer symptoms, boost comfort, and relieve stress; and programs that nourish the body, mind, spirit, and creativity, like Qigong yoga, mindfulness in nature, knitting, music and movement, equine therapy, and more.
Chelsea Kline is gratified that so many people find calm and courage during a difficult time in their lives through Cancer Connection.
Photo by Bob Zemba, Simple Truth Imaging
“If people are hurting,” she said, “if people are feeling isolated, if people are feeling scared and alone, we have these open doors and this beautiful space, and we can say, ‘we understand, we want you to feel protected, we want you to feel cared for, and we’ll do our very best.’”
For her role in connecting people in need with a community that cares for them — and cultivating the support of a much larger community outside its doors — Kline can certainly be called a Woman of Impact.
Calm in the Storm
“I can breathe deeper, feel lighter, calmer.”
“The class was exactly what I needed. Being part of a community of other cancer survivors gave me a such a feeling of connection and courage.”
“I met amazing women at various stages of healing. The beauty and grace that each of them expressed helped me realize I am not alone.”
Those are some of the many quotes the team at Cancer Connection have collected from people who have accessed its services. They speak to a sense of calm in the storm, and that’s exactly what Kline intends.
“Every time someone has a massage or an integrative treatment here, we have a form where they fill out — how they’re feeling before and how they’re feeling afterwards. And it’s so moving to see someone who was in pain, they were exhausted, they were scared, they were uncomfortable, they were feeling like a 1 when they got here, really low on the scale, and after they work with the integrative therapist, whether it’s massage or acupuncture or Reiki, they’re feeling at an 8 or a 9. They’re feeling so much better; they say, ‘I’m feeling soothed. I’m feeling more hopeful.’
“And every time I read those forms, I send them out to the staff and I’m like, ‘look at how beautiful this is. Look at how important this work is.’ It keeps us all grounded.”
They’re doing the work with no federal grants — a comforting model at a time when such funds are being threatened across the nonprofit world. Instead, Cancer Connection relies on local corporate sponsors, a monthly giving program for individual donors, and a variety of events, from the annual Harvest Dinner to a Mother’s Day half-marathon that celebrated its 15th year this past spring. A new event, a ladies’ golf tournament, recently raised $20,000.
Other community groups have helped as well, from Crippled Old Busted Bikers putting on a comedy show to raise funds for Cancer Connection to a drag revue called Camilla’s Extravaganza that has taken the nonprofit on as a fundraising beneficiary, to the annual Bed In for Cancer Connection — launched by radio personality Monte Belmonte as Monte’s Camp Out for Cancer Connection, and how hosted by Greenfield Savings Bank’s Tara Brewster, one of this year’s other Women of Impact.
“We’re just lean and scrappy because the point is caring, and that’s counterculture to capitalism. This organization is kind of punk rock, in a way.”
Then there’s the Cancer Connection Thrift Shop on South Street in Northampton, which just celebrated its 10th anniversary.
“I often joke that the thrift shop is the fun part of Cancer Connection. There’s aways great music playing, friendly people, and treasures to be found,” Kline noted, adding that the shop is also in line with her belief in reusing and repurposing in an effort to have a lighter impact on the planet.
“I am profoundly grateful for the visionaries that came before me that dreamt up the shop and worked so hard to bring it life,” she added. “My oldest friends are all amused by the fact that I landed at an organization that has an awesome thrift shop, given that I am a lifelong diehard thrifter.”
In nominating Kline to be a Woman of Impact, Jean Einstein, co-president of Cancer Connection’s board of directors, noted that, “through her leadership and tireless energies in creative fundraising in the community and her talent to recruit talented development staff and board members to expand funding opportunities, Cancer Connection is well-positioned for the next 25 years to continue making a difference in the lives of with those with cancer, their loved ones, and caregivers. Chelsea Kline’s powerfully positive impact on Cancer Connection, and its ability to continue its legacy as a place to find strength, cannot be overstated.”
When Kline hears that, however, she immediately credits so many others who support the work, from staff to board members to volunteers.
Chelsea Kline (right) with Shelley Daughdrill of Florence Bank, which continues to be a sponsor of Cancer Connection’s Harvest Dinner — one of many examples of how the community supports the nonprofit’s work.
“The thrift store alone has about 50 volunteers a year, people of all ages who show up and give their time to help support our mission,” she told BusinessWest. “The staff at the shop serve as amazing mentors for people of all ages in how they listen deeply and with profound compassion when shoppers and donors share their cancer stories.”
She also has an eye firmly on those who will take up the mantle in the future.
“Working in a nonprofit, it’s really important to think about how we’re going to be bringing in new generations of people who are going to be doing this work. Who are the helpers? How can you be a helper? How can you be a professional helper?
“That’s a really important career track,” she went on. “But it’s a counterculture career track for a lot of people because I think, in a capitalist society, it’s like, ‘money, money, money.’ And what’s so cool about Cancer Connection is we’re kind of outside of that; we don’t take insurance, we don’t charge people. We’re just lean and scrappy because the point is caring, and that’s counterculture to capitalism. This organization is kind of punk rock, in a way.”
Crank It Up
Kline doesn’t use that term lightly; she was deeply involved in the punk scene in Washington, D.C. back in the ’90s.
“I’d to all the shows that were free in D.C., and I was part of the Beehive Collective and zine publishing, and I had a shaved head. And the sweetest people I ever knew were all the punks at the shows. They would look out for each other. I was totally involved in Food Not Bombs. We would make huge meals from donated foods and give it away in the park,” she recalled.
“A huge part of my punk rock upbringing was, how do you take care of people that are hungry? It’s so basic and so essential, and it’s getting lost, and how can that be? How can we have so many hungry people? How can we have so many lonely people? How do we fix it? It drives me crazy.”
“I want people to see this work and grasp it and appreciate it and respect it and want to be part of it.”
She mentioned all that context to explain her listening choice while driving to the Florence Bank Customers’ Choice grant awards this past spring.
“It’s a bank event, right? Like, I’ve got to be buttoned up, to look like a professional lady, but I’m blasting Fugazi on the way. But there’s so much about the punk rock ethos that really does translate to working in nonprofits. It’s about just doing what you can with what you’ve got and living by your values, and not being fake and not being stuffy and not trying to hurt anybody else or try to take advantage. And I’m a little punk rock at heart.”
That punk ethos, she said, means authenticity, anti-consumerism, and helping others whenever possible, which also relates to being a social justice advocate, with an emphasis on anti-racism and LGBTQ+ rights.
And, of course, helping people through one of the most difficult journeys in life: cancer.
“I want people to see this work and grasp it and appreciate it and respect it and want to be part of it,” she said. “So my work is not work, per se; it’s an honor to be able to use my energy and my enthusiasm to bring people along and say, ‘hey, this is really important. Come and be part of this.’”
