Community Corner
April is National Volunteer Month
April is National Volunteer Month and the Treasure Chest Foundation Wanted to Celebrate
April is National Volunteer Month and the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation wanted to celebrate by honoring our Friday weekly volunteers.
Every Friday, a little bit of magic takes place at a small warehouse in Orland Park. That’s the day when a core group of volunteers arrive at the Treasure Chest Foundation headquarters and begins to prepare hundreds of toys for shipping to children and teens who are battling cancer. A large part of the organization’s success is due to the perseverance and hard work of this group of volunteers.
Although the volunteers differ in the length of time they’ve served the Foundation, they share a common bond and are united in one cause—to help provide joy and smiles to young children and teens fighting cancer.
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Treasure Chest Foundation Founder and CEO Colleen Kisel said, “We’re excited to acknowledge our weekly Friday volunteers who devote their time and talents to help the kids we serve. We’re very proud to recognize the group during our volunteer appreciation special event.”
The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 13,300 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 26th anniversary of remission from the disease in March.
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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.
(Pictured L-R): Jane Rozdilsky, Vida Burklow, Janet Wilschke, Tammy Girten, Michele Brett, Diana Karasek, Donna Karris and Terry Mannix at the Treasure Chest Foundation in Orland Park.
(Not Pictured): Nan Beard, Jill Konieczny and Monica Meadows.
