Allstate Foundation Helping Hands Grant Benefits Kids with Cancer

The Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF) of Orland Park was overjoyed recently to receive an enormous donation of $10,000 from the Allstate Foundation Helping Hands Grants program. The Allstate Foundation supports causes that Allstate agency owners and employees care about by providing Helping Hands Grants to nonprofits where they volunteer their time in their communities. The grant will support the nonprofit organization’s mission to help children and teens fighting cancer.

Local Allstate agency owners came together to host a day of volunteering and secure the Allstate Foundation Helping Hands Grant to benefit the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation. Grant Organizer and Allstate Agency Owner Jack R. Hallberg from Orland Park orchestrated the $10,000 donation and a day of volunteering at the Treasure Chest Foundation. Jack said “A great charity, doing great work. What could be a better cause than helping kids fighting cancer!”

Treasure Chest Foundation CEO and Founder Colleen Kisel said, “We feel so blessed and honored to have the support of the Allstate Foundation and all of the Allstate Agency Owners. Their donation will help support thousands of children and teens who endure years and years of unending cancer treatments by rewarding the little ones with a toy, gift or gift card after every procedure.”

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 13,100 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 25th anniversary of remission from the disease in March.

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:

Allstate Agency Owners and family members (L- R) Agent Tom Hallberg Sr., Agent Jack Hallberg Sr., Team Member Lynn Chrapkiewicz, family member Jennifer Hallberg, baby Porter Hallberg, baby Lachlan Hallberg, Grant Organizer Allstate Agent Jack R. Hallberg, Agent Tim Todd, family member Lauren Pitts, family member Chuck Koepp, family member Pat Koepp and Team Member Jim Dorigan proudly present the $10,000 donation while volunteering at the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation’s Orland Park facility.

Not pictured;

Allstate Agent Angelo Barone, Allstate Agent Gina Conley, Allstate Agent Tony Grigat, Allstate Agent Mike Hallberg, Allstate Agent Tom Hallberg Jr., and Allstate Agent Sandra Simon-Nichols.