Blood Brothers Cycling Group Benefits Children Fighting Cancer

Members of the Blood Brothers Cycling group participated in a seven-day bike tour called the Tour of Minnesota. In exchange for a riding jersey, Highland Park resident and event organizer Steve Hawrysz asked the Blood Brothers Cycling group to donate to the Treasure Chest Foundation. The jersey proudly displayed the Treasure Chest Foundation logo to over 250 cyclists. When the last rider crossed the finish line the Blood Brothers Cycling group raised $500 to help children and teens fighting cancer.

Tour of Minnesota formerly known as the Klobuchar Ride is a seven-day bike tour, which was started in 1974 by Jim Klobuchar. The Tour of Minnesota bike ride has three main goals, visit out-of-the-way small towns and vistas, enjoy the heritage and culture of those towns and bring economic development to the local businesses.

Colleen Kisel, Founder and CEO of the Treasure Chest Foundation, said, “We are especially grateful to our longtime Treasure Chest donor and Blood Brother Steve Hawrysz, from Highland Park, for spearheading this wonderful donation among his fellow Blood Brothers. We are thankful for their support that will certainly provide joy to young people battling 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.