Bridging the Gap to Helping Children Fighting Cancer

The Bridge Teen Center is giving back to children fighting cancer by creating gift bags for children to benefit the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF).

The Bridge Teen Center is an innovative grassroots nonprofit community center for teenagers located in Orland Park and serving the Chicago Southland area. Their mission is to provide free programs during after-school and unsupervised hours where students can develop mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually in a safe environment.

Bridge Teen Center Program Associate Amanda Speakman recognized the positive impact on her hard-working volunteers, saying, “The Bridge Teen Center appreciates the opportunity the Treasure Chest Foundation gives us to serve our community on days when students are not in school. We value our partnership with the Treasure Chest Foundation.”

POTCF Founder and CEO Colleen Kisel was grateful for their help. “We are thrilled to have the support of the Bridge Teen Center,” she said. “The gift bags the Bridge teens created will bring joy to children during a very difficult time.”

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 9,300 young cancer patients each month in 49 hospitals across 17 states. 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 earlier this year.

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.