Years ago, Debbie Sardone, owner of Buckets & Bows Maid Service, got a call from a woman inquiring about a price quote for Sardone's cleaning service.
"I gave her our rates," she tells PEOPLE, "and she went, 'Oh I can't afford that, I'm undergoing cancer treatment' and hung up."
It was a literal wake-up call for Sardone.
"I sat there and realized I could have given her the cleaning for free, and I was disappointed it didn't occur to me until too late," she recalls.
"There's no way for me to call that first woman back," says Sardone, 55, of Flower Mound, Texas, explaining that it was in the days before caller ID.
"But she inspired me to change, inspired a policy that eventually became a nationwide nonprofit," she says.
That nationwide nonprofit is Cleaning for a Reason, an organization that provides housecleaning services free of charge to women battling cancer.
Since the organization was founded in 2006, more than 1,100 maid services across the nation and in Canada have signed up to dedicate their time to women in need.
"Maid-service owners have told us it's the most rewarding thing they've ever done in business," says Sardone.
Her own mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, so she knows how difficult it can be to keep up with day-to-day tasks when undergoing treatment.
"If she couldn't have afforded a cleaning service," she says, "she wouldn't have been able to keep up with her home."
Adds Sardone: "Women have said it's the most normal they've felt in months, walking into a clean home.
"One woman told me she felt like her whole life had spiraled out of control, but when she came home to a clean house, she felt just a little bit more like herself."
Sardone (center) with recipients Stacey Schwinghammer (left) and Tanya Dodd-Hise
Tanya Dodd-Hise, 44 of The Colony, Texas, was diagnosed with cancer in early 2013. Her friend signed her up for Cleaning for a Reason's services, and despite some initial reluctance on Dodd-Hise's part, she's grateful for Sardone's help.
"For me it was great, because I am typically the one who stayed home with our little one and got the big one off to school and did the cooking and did the cleaning and did the dishes and then suddenly, I wasn't able to do any of that," Dodd-Hise says.
"My wife is an attorney," she adds. "She was going to work all day long and then taking care of our little ones, but I didn't want her to have to come home and clean, too. Cleaning for a Reason was so helpful. More than most people would ever realize."
And now Sardone has teamed up with Swiffer and Walmart to help raise awareness of the nonprofit service.
This month, Walmart will carry pink-branded Swiffer products directing shoppers to Cleaning for a Reason.
"We're the best-kept secret in North America," jokes Sardone. "Swiffer and Walmart have helped us get the word out to women and other cleaning services alike."
But one woman she hasn't heard back from? That initial caller who changed her life.
"If I could talk to her again," says Sardone, "I would tell her that because of her phone call, she inspired me to give away free cleaning to women who need my help."
Know a hero? Send suggestions to heroesamongus@peoplemag.com. For more inspiring stories, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE magazine
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