11th Annual Durbins of Evergreen Park Cares for Kids Fighting Cancer

Forty-one years ago, Jennifer Vancura was diagnosed with liver cancer at the age of one. Forty-two years later, Jennifer’s mom Nancy Meyer, the Manager of Durbins in Evergreen Park, continues to give back to the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation by hosting an annual Durbins Cares event. Even though Jennifer never benefitted from the Treasure Chest Foundation’s services, Nancy remembers the pain of having a child battle cancer for many years and wants to help others.

Durbins of Evergreen Park sponsored its Eleventh Annual Durbins Cares event on Saturday, October 8th, which included free pizza, pasta, sweets, entertainment compliments of Acoustically Skewed, a split-the-pot raffle, a lottery wheel and more than 50 raffle baskets that raised $4,068 for the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF). During the past eleven years, the Durbins Cares event has raised an impressive $40,500 to benefit the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation.

Established in 1987 by the McAuliffe family, Durbins is a family-run restaurant and bar and was voted as having Chicagoland’s Best Pizza. Durbins Manager Nancy Meyer said, “Cancer hit my family, my daughter Jennifer was diagnosed with cancer at the age of one and every year I lose more and more people to cancer. Durbins cares and I care, I love helping out and when cancer hits someone really close, you want to get involved with organizations like the Treasure Chest Foundation that help kids with cancer.”

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 15,700 young cancer patients in 65 cancer treatment centers in 21 states across the nation and in the District of Columbia. Nowhere else in the nation does such a program exist. Colleen Kisel founded the organization in 1996 after her then seven-year-old son Martin had been diagnosed with leukemia in 1993. Ms. Kisel 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 29th anniversary of remission from the disease in March of this year.

If you would like further information about the Treasure Chest Foundation, please contact Colleen Kisel at 1-708-687-TOYS (8697) or visit the Foundation’s website at www.treasurechest.org