Seasonal & Holidays
Alice L. Barnard Elementary School of the East Beverly Neighborho
Alice L. Barnard Elementary School 8th grade students pose for picture while loading a van full of toys for kids fighting cancer.
The students and staff at Alice L. Barnard Elementary School of the East Beverly Neighborhood in Chicago had fun for a worthy cause recently when their school hosted a school wide holiday toy drive for the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF).
Alice L. Barnard Elementary School asked students to bring in new toys to donate to children and teens fighting cancer. By the time the last donation came in they had collected hundreds of toys. Counselor and Case Manager Pamela Denne said, “The boys put in a lot of work collecting the donations and we know that it is going towards a great cause.”
Alice L. Barnard Elementary School is in the East Beverly neighborhood of Chicago. Alice L. Barnard Elementary School’s vision is to create a school that partners with the community, constantly striving to improve upon success and to be the heart beat of East Beverly, the neighborhood school of choice.
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POTCF Founder and CEO Colleen Kisel said “We are delighted by the support of the Alice L. Barnard Elementary School who generously donated to our holiday toy drive.”
The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 13,000 young cancer patients enduring 20,000 clinic visits each month in 19 states across the nation. 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 24th anniversary of remission from the disease in March of 2017.
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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.
Photo caption (l-r): Alice L. Barnard Elementary School 8th grade students Kodie Winfrey, Ezekiel Lewis and Jayden Brooks pose for picture while loading a van full of toys collected during the school-wide holiday toy drive. The toys will benefit children and teens battling cancer nationwide.
