Carl Sandburg High School National Honor Society Helps Teens

The National Honor Society requires a commitment to the values of scholarship, service, leadership, character and citizenship. That is exactly what the members of the Carl Sandburg High School National Honor Society in Orland Park did when they hosted a holiday gift card drive and collected $1,340 in gift cards to benefit the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation. National Honor Society member Barrett Ainsley had positive reactions to her experience. Barrett said, “The Treasure Chest Foundation is a great organization and that is why we wanted to come back. We want to make the teens' season bright. Everyone was excited to help.”

POTCF Founder and CEO Colleen Kisel is grateful for the Carl Sandburg High School National Honor Society’s enormous donation. Colleen said, “We are incredibly proud of the Carl Sandburg National Honor Society students who willingly decided to help teens fighting cancer. We want the students to know what a tremendous impact their gift card donation will have on the teens we serve.”

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 14,800 young cancer patients in 63 cancer treatment centers in 21 states across the nation and in the District of Columbia. 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 28th anniversary of remission from the disease in March of this year.

If you would like further information about the Treasure Chest Foundation, please contact Colleen Kisel at 1-708-687-TOYS (8697) or visit the Foundation’s website at www.treasurechest.org.