Throughout her seven-year battle with breast cancer, Carol Anne Clark came into contact with many who were losing everything, including their homes, said The Carol House founder Ron Prudhomme.

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Many fear losing their homes if their health takes a turn for the worst, and The Carol House Foundation seeks to carry out Clark’s vision of providing rent-free housing for people who have lost everything due to breast cancer.

Prudhomme’s wife, Carol Anne Clark, succumbed to metastatic breast cancer in October 2011 at 53 years old.

“Carol wanted to do something that was a long-term solution and would have the maximum impact on a family,” Prudhomme said.

Clark found that breast cancer patients often lacked basic resources, and she wanted to establish a nonprofit to aide to those who have been financially devastated because of their chronic illness.

“Shortly before she passed away, she came up with this innovative idea of providing housing relief to people that have lost their homes,” Prudhomme said. “She said, ‘We’re going to start with our house.’”

In May 2012, Prudhomme and Clark decided to donate their Antelope Valley home to a family affected by breast cancer that had suffered financially.

The Carol House received more than 50 applications that year.

“When we finally found a lady who qualified,” Prudhomme said, “she had lost her home, and we found her living in a desert Rosamond, and in the most appalling conditions — surrounded by gangs and drug dealers in a trailer park.”

The foundation funding the housing entirely through donations.

“The first Carol house was set up to house a family and they would leave only on a volunteer basis once they go into remission,” Prudhomme said.

The foundation is pending approval for 501(c)(3) status because corporate sponsors are reluctant to offer large donations without receiving a tax write-off.

To donate to the Carol House Foundation visit their website here.

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