Twenty years, 2,225 patients: the volunteer cleaners who show up when cancer does

When someone is going through cancer treatment, a vacuumed living room is not a luxury. It is one less thing. That is the idea behind Cleaning for a Reason, an ISSA Charities program that arranges free home cleaning for patients.

This year marks 20 years of the program in Canada. Since 2006, it says, it has helped 2,225 Canadian patients and donated more than $725,860 in cleaning services.

In 2026, 25 volunteers from Bunzl Cleaning & Hygiene locations joined ISSA Canada and other industry partners for volunteer days in Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver and Montreal, cleaning the homes of 20 patients and their families. The announcement came from Burlington, Ontario, on November 2.

It is a reminder that the skills cleaners use every shift (noticing what others miss, leaving a space calmer than they found it) mean something very different when the person living there is exhausted.