Frank McCarter. Photo courtesy of the Worcester Telegram.

Fitchburg, Mass. social worker Frank McCarter is undergoing treatment for life-threatening cancer but is still committed to helping the homeless, according to this article in the Worcester Telegram.

At the end of March, soon after a doctor told McCarter, 60, the prognosis for his  cancer tumor was grim, McCarter checked on a homeless client to make sure the man had access to a food pantry.

“I think some of it was how he was raised,” his wife Carol Lemay McCarter said. “His father was a psychiatrist and his mother was a social worker with the Department of Children and Families. They were both social activists and he always had a consciousness about certain issues.”

Frank McCarter, who works for ACTION Health Services, recently received the National Health Care for the Homeless Council’s Local Hero Award. The award is only given to four people across the nation each year.

“In terms of work, I’m very pleased with my career and blessed and grateful that I was able to do something I enjoyed doing so much,” McCarter said.

Cheers to the Telegram for telling McCarter’s story.

To learn more about how social workers help the homeless read “From Homelessness to Independent Living” on the National Association of Social Workers’ Help Starts Here consumer website by clicking here.