Nonprofit Lipstick Angels brings a moment of peace and beauty to cancer patients at CHOMP.

Amy Stone endured rigorous, day-long infusion treatments at the Comprehensive Cancer Center inside Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula over a period of four years. Often feeling drained and defeated, every time volunteer Madeleine Cooper with nonprofit Lipstick Angels showed up with her cart of beauty and spa treatments, Stone’s day would get a little brighter.

“It was truly the ‘angels’ part – really a perfect description – what it felt like when I would see Madeleine with her cart coming into the cancer center on my infusion days,” Stone says. “I had no idea what a sweet difference it would make to be pampered and put a little color on your cheeks.”

Beyond offering makeup applications, Cooper also offers treatments to bring comfort, like aromatherapy and hand massages. Stone says aromatherapy went a long way to help with nausea.

Lipstick Angels was started by celebrity makeup artist Renata Helfman in 2012, inspired by her grandmother, a cancer and Holocaust survivor. Her grandmother always applied her favorite lipstick before each chemotherapy session. Since its inception, the nonprofit has spread to 16 hospital programs in six locations throughout the country. Last year the organization helped an estimated 18,000 patients, according to its 2024 impact report.

A few years ago Tara Christion, then newly hired as assistant director of Montage’s Comprehensive Cancer Center, coming from UC San Francisco Medical Center where Lipstick Angels was already operating, suggested to the Montage Health Foundation that it bring the organization to CHOMP. (Montage Health is CHOMP’s parent company.)

“We contacted Lipstick Angels, did a couple of Zooms to learn about the program, and decided it was a perfect fit for our organization,” says Kelly Lapai, volunteer and retail sales manager for the foundation.

Cooper, who had spent her career as an aesthetician in the San Francisco Bay Area and had recently moved to the Monterey Peninsula, was semi-retired and looking for a volunteer position. Clients had told her about Lipstick Angels, and about CHOMP, just about a mile from Cooper’s new home. It turned out to be a perfect fit for her, too. She now serves as Lipstick Angels’ program manager for the Monterey Bay area.

Since June 2023, Cooper has been coming to the cancer center three times a week with her cart of makeup, lip balms, lotions and other tools. She gives between 70-80 sessions per month, some to repeat patients. As a Lipstick Angels volunteer, she is required to take part in ongoing education each year, tailored to working with oncology patients.

When Cooper approaches a patient, she hands them a menu of free services. “It could be anything from a quick brow shape to a pop of color,” she says. She also offers full facials and makeup, as well as guided breathing exercises, spending between 10-30 minutes per person. Sometimes she will offer treatment to a caregiver accompanying a patient. “They are almost as important,” Cooper says.

“Sometimes people don’t want to have any form of treatment, and then I’ll put together a little gift of some sort,” Cooper adds. It could be a product she thinks they will enjoy or a particular shade of lip color they like, or a product to ease a skin issue.

Cooper receives joy from the gratitude shown by patients for the care she gives them.

“Very often they’re obviously extremely stressed and frightened and sometimes they’re feeling as bad as you can feel,” she says. “Almost always they are at least uplifted, relaxed, happier [after a session].”

For now Cooper is the only Lipstick Angels volunteer at CHOMP but she’s looking for one or two more experienced people to join her so they can expand the program.

To learn more or sign up to volunteer with Lipstick Angels, contact Madeleine Cooper at madeleine@lipstickangels.org.