Chicago Girl Hosts Family Toy Drive for Kids with Cancer

Chicago girl Leilani Villaseca (age 12) is giving back to children fighting cancer. Leilani collected over $1,200 from her friends and family and shopped for brand new toys, gifts and $150 in gift cards during the Christmas holiday season all to benefit children and teens fighting cancer.

Leilani donated two vans full of toys and gifts. Leilani visited the Treasure Chest Foundation’s Orland Park warehouse and shared her experience, “Every year I have the same wish, to help the kids in the hospital. Other kids are spending time at home with their families, these kids have to spend time in the hospital. I am happy I can make someone happy.” Leilani’s mom Cynthia Centeno said, “This toy drive is something Leilani has asked for since she was six years old. This is what my daughter wants to do every year.”

POTCF Founder and CEO Colleen Kisel is grateful for Leilani’s help. “I’m overwhelmed by Leilani’s remarkable demonstration of thoughtfulness and leadership,” said Colleen. “When most 12-year-old girls are asked what they want for Christmas, they respond with a list of items for themselves. Leilani sponsored a toy drive for children who endure years and years of cancer treatment. We are so blessed to have her support.”

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.