Larson Family’s ‘St. Rick’ Holiday Toy Drive Benefits Children

The Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation recently received a donation of toys, gifts, $210 in gift cards and $100 thanks to the thoughtfulness and generosity of the Oak Forest Larson family and friends ‘St. Rick’ holiday toy drive to benefit children and teens fighting cancer. When asked about the toy drive Rick Larson said, “Anything I can do to help kids with cancer. The Treasure Chest Foundation is a great organization.”

Rick Larson’s relationship with the Treasure Chest Foundation started in 2020 when he stopped by the Foundation’s Orland Park warehouse and inquired about volunteering. He left the facility with the arduous task of delivering 100’s of pounds of toys to area Children Cancer Treatment Centers.

POTCF Founder and CEO Colleen Kisel said, “We feel so blessed to have the support of the Larson family and all of their friends. We are especially grateful to have the ongoing help of Mr. Rick Larson who not only delivers toys to hospitals month after month but currently is involved in picking up holiday toy drives. Rick Larson is a silent hero in the lives of the children and teens the Treasure Chest Foundation serves.”

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 14,800 young cancer patients in 63 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 28th 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.