T.E.A.M. Asset Program Provides Toys and Gift Cards to Children

Students at District #210 Lincoln-Way high schools participated in a program designed to make their local community a better environment in which to live, work and learn. T.E.A.M. Asset, an acronym for Teaching Everyone Assets Matter, provides an outlet for both children and adults who strive to improve their community. The Lincoln-Way students recently joined forces in New Lenox with Liberty Jr. High School, Lincoln-Way Central High School, Lincoln-Way East High School, Lincoln-Way West High School, Mackay Education Center, Martino Jr. High, New Lenox Chamber of Commerce, New Lenox Park District, New Lenox School District 122, Peace Lutheran Church, Manhattan Community Park District, Manhattan School District 114, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ in Manhattan, Mokena Jr. High, along with the Lincoln-Way Community and raised 1592 in toys and books and $145 in gift cards for the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation. The event took place right before the coronavirus was declared a national emergency. The donation was delivered today.

The program=s framework identifies the basic assets that all young people need to grow up healthy, caring and responsible, and then emphasizes each asset in a unified campaign for a better community.

Dustin Waddell, Lincoln-Way Central Student Activities Coordinator said, “With COVID we are all realizing what we may have taken for granted. Cancer treatment does not stop for the kids served by the Treasure Chest Foundation. The T.E.A.M. Asset team takes a lot of pride in the toy drive. I am so proud of our community.” Lincoln-Way Central Instructional Technology Coordinator Chris Fetherling chimed in, “Our school is always happy to help. This is a great partnership. The organization is in good hands.”

The recent toy drive successfully met the T.E.A.M. Asset objectives by providing comfort and distraction from painful procedures to children and teens battling cancer, prompting Treasure Chest Foundation founder and CEO Colleen Kisel to express her gratitude for the program=s efforts. AI want all the groups who worked so hard to know what a tremendous impact this toy drive will have. Their compassion and generosity will help put smiles on the faces of more than 14,400 children and teens each month who are struggling with the adversity of battling childhood cancer. What a blessing this partnership has been for the clients served by the Treasure Chest Foundation especially as we navigate this new normal,” said Colleen.

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 14,000 young cancer patients in 60 cancer treatment centers in 20 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 27th anniversary of remission from the disease in March of 2020.

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.