Shonda Tibbs faced a choice last year that no one wants to face: either pay her utility bills or continue her chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer.

“I was on the verge of not continuing my chemotherapy, because I was facing these other stressors in my life,” said Tibbs, a single mother of four who had completed six of her eight treatments when she faced the chemo-or-light bill dilemma.

That’s also when Tibbs, a 40-year-old social worker, was introduced to a Bowling Green nonprofit organization called Life’s Better Together. The organization proved to be a godsend.

“My story would be a lot different if not for the help of Life’s Better Together,” Tibbs said. “It was such a relief to go to those treatments, knowing I’d still have a home to go to and have electricity.”

Tibbs completed her treatments seven months ago and is hopeful that she remains cancer-free.

“Compared to a year ago, I feel like a new person,” she said. “Life takes on a whole new perspective when you get that diagnosis. You realize that tomorrow isn’t promised to anyone. If Life’s Better Together didn’t exist, I don’t know where I’d be today.”

Tibbs’ ordeal had a happy ending, which is what Life’s Better Together was created to achieve. Aiming to build the resources to help others like Tibbs, the nonprofit will stage its third annual “Miracle on College Street Mile” at 9 a.m. Saturday.

The one-mile run through downtown Bowling Green, which starts at Bowling Green Ballpark and ends at Booth Fire and Safety, is the signature event for Life’s Better Together and an event that has picked up speed since its beginning.

The race attracted fewer than 100 runners the first year, grew to 225 last year, and will have a field of nearly 400 runners this year.

Such growth mirrors that of the nonprofit itself. Started by Danette Idlett and her husband, Matt Idlett, Life’s Better Together has worked with more than 70 families facing severe illnesses and distributed more than $75,000 to those families in less than three years.

Danette Idlett, who lost her first husband to lymphoma, explained that she saw a need for the services that Life’s Better Together tries to provide.

“I knew I wanted to do something to help others going through something similar to what I went through,” she said. “Matt encouraged my dream of bringing this to Bowling Green.”

Idlett, who recently gave up her job in the insurance business to devote herself full-time to being the nonprofit’s unpaid executive director, said the group has helped families throughout the 10-county Barren River region.

“Basically, we step in and help with things that insurance doesn’t cover,” she said. “We’ve bought new tires, written checks for mortgage payments, anything we can do to ease the financial burden on these families.

“They have enough things going on, so we try to let them concentrate on the treatments and getting better.”

Idlett and the 17-member Life’s Better Together board of directors reach out to school family resource centers, churches and civic groups to find families needing help. They also have a link on the nonprofit’s website – lifesbettertogether.org – that allows anyone to make a referral.

Such referrals were slow in the beginning, maybe two or three a month, but Idlett said that number has grown to four to eight each month.

“We want to help as many people as we can,” she said.

The growth of the one-mile run has helped, and Idlett said her group has come up with other ways to raise money.

She said a “25 on 25” promotion that allows people to donate $25 through direct deposit on the 25th of each month has taken off. The effort already has 32 donors of the 50 Idlett and her board set as the goal.

“If we get to 50, that is $15,000 per year of perpetual income,” she said. “We’ll always have that.”

Life’s Better Together is also planning a Casino Night fundraiser, using play money, for St. Patrick’s Day.

“The run is our signature event, but we think this (Casino Night) will be a lot of fun and maybe make twice as much money as the run,” Idlett said. “One is a family event, the other is more for adults.”

Saturday’s “miracle mile” attracts serious runners as well as families looking to take a stroll before the start of the Bowling Green Christmas Parade. All will be contributing to the ultimate goal of helping those with serious illnesses.

“If everybody participates in a small way,” Matt Idlett said, “we can make a big difference.”