Keeping busy is easy to do at Sunshine’s Yard Supply, a place that takes garden supplies that would go to the trash. And brings them back to life – sold at a discount price.

Owner Susan Walczak is on somewhat of her own second chance after a scare with cancer last year.

“By September, I was like, oh, there's something wrong. And I went to the Mac Center, and they said you're full of ascites fluid and I was like what is that? But all in all they were like we found a mass on your ovary,” she said.

An operation quickly followed – plus months of chemo.

“It was all like, so fast,” she said. “Just a flash of my life gone by. Like it really put the brakes on everything even here”

But she stayed active sharing her journey online. And people responded, thanking her for being open – and rallying to support her and her business in the meantime.

“I knew that my time here isn't done, like I have more work to do here,” she explained. “So in order to keep my positive attitude, I needed my friends to keep so I would post and I want everybody to know like what I was going through because what if they have to go through it someday?”

It was through her experience that she got an idea.

“I would pull in and I would go, ‘oh, I gotta trim those bushes, I gotta finish that weed barrier, I gotta get the stone in there. And another light bulb’,” she said.

She founded Plants for a Purpose as she was going through chemo, a one-time, free yard service for those going through a tough time.

“Go in, get their yard standing tall, so that when they're coming home from their treatments or they want to go outside and enjoy their yard while they're feeling terrible, and going through a health issue or something that that they can be happy and be proud of their property and not have that added stress layer,” she said.

Her first nominee – a disabled vet in Hamburg who lost his wife.

As she continues with her own recovery, she wants this work to inspire others.

“This has been probably the best thing that I've ever done in my life,” she said.

Whether through an organization, or just everyday life, be kind.

“I want everybody to have 500 pounds of loving spirit in their 100 pound bodies. That's all,” she said. Plants for a Purpose is looking for volunteers. If you’re interested, message Sunshine Yard Supply on Facebook. Walczak’s goal is to have enough people to help at least one person every month.