Westchester Community Church Benefits Children with Cancer

In the spirit of giving, the parishioners of Westchester Community Church Missions Group in Westchester are providing comfort to children fighting cancer by donating new toys to benefit the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF).

Westchester Community Church parishioner Sandy Tavernier said, “I put a blow-up pool out with some toys to see what would sink in for donations. We wanted to get everybody’s attention.” Parishioner Marge Nelson said, “We believe in the cause. We have all known children who had cancer. It’s awesome to put a smile on the face of a child.”

Treasure Chest Foundation CEO and Founder Colleen Kisel expressed her profound gratitude for the generous support shown by the Westchester parishioners. “The Treasure Chest Foundation is especially grateful for their enormous donation. The summer toys are very popular at the Children’s Cancer Treatment Centers,” said an appreciative Ms. Kisel. “It is wonderful to see the giving members of this church come together to help little ones whose lives have become filled with doctors, nurses, surgeries, pills, chemotherapy, radiation and mostly painful, painful procedures.”

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 16,100 young cancer patients in 66 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 30th 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.