In the spirit of giving, the youth of St. Simeon Church in Bellwood are helping children and teens fighting cancer. The church recently sponsored a Lenten Season Toy and Gift Card Drive to benefit the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF), a non-profit organization that provides comfort and distraction from painful procedures to children and teens diagnosed with cancer by providing a toy, gift or gift card in 44 hospitals across 15 states nationwide.
St. Simeon Catholic Church is a strong and viable, multi-cultural parish continuing to meet new goals and challenges. The St. Simeon Church community supports their children with a religious education program and youth group.
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St. Simeon parishioners of all ages were led by the children as they took on the mission of buying new toys, gifts and gift cards to benefit brave children and teens battling cancer.
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Shortly after the successful toy and gift card drive was over, St. Simeon parishioners counted over 180 toys, $250 in donated funds and more than $1,000 in gift cards. Julian Ross, St. Simeon Church religious education teacher, said, “I chose to support the Treasure Chest Foundation because I wanted to give our youth at St. Simeon an opportunity to show their kindness and compassion to other children who are suffering from cancer.”
POTCF Founder and CEO Colleen Kisel said, “We are thankful for each and every St. Simeon child and parishioner for their generosity. It is such a delight to see children helping children. We are so blessed to have the support of the St. Simeon family.”
The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 8,500 young cancer patients each month. Nowhere else in the nation does such a program exist. Ms. Kisel founded the organization in 1996 after her then seven-year-old son Martin had been diagnosed with leukemia in 1993. She discovered that giving her son a toy after each procedure provided a calming distraction from his pain, noting that when children are diagnosed with cancer their world soon becomes filled with doctors, nurses, chemotherapy drugs, surgeries and seemingly endless painful procedures. Martin celebrated his 20th anniversary of remission from the disease earlier this year.
If you would like further information about the Treasure Chest Foundation, please contact Colleen Kisel at 708-687-TOYS (8697) or visit the Foundation’s web site at www.treasurechest.org.
