Alice L. Barnard Elementary School of the East Beverly Neighborhood in Chicago Collect Toys to Benefit Childre

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 and gift cards to donate to children and teens fighting cancer. By the time the last donation came in they had collected hundreds of toys, $125 in gift cards and $20. Kindergarten Teacher Colleen Carroll said, “This year at Barnard School we decided that we would give rather than receive. We chose the Treasure Chest Foundation because we are huge fans of the work and the mission.”

Alice L. Barnard Elementary School is located 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.

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 9,300 young cancer patients each month in 49 hospitals across 17 states and the District of Columbia. Nowhere else in the nation does such a program exist. Ms. Kisel founded the organization in 1996 after her then seven-year-old son Martin had been diagnosed with leukemia in 1993. She 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 22nd anniversary of remission from the disease in 2015.

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.