Christmas in July for Children and Teens Fighting Cancer

Divine Providence Church in Westchester celebrated the spirit of giving during their fourteenth annual Christmas in July toy drive to benefit the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation. Parishioners collected over 1,000 toys, gifts for teens, $95 in gift cards, 50 handmade quilts and hats to help children and teens fighting cancer.

Divine Providence Church Director of Marketing Linda Hawkins said, “Toy drive chairwoman Eileen Gorski was not able to organize the toy drive this year but not doing it was not an option. We still need to do good work through our parish to continue to brighten children’s lives who suffer from cancer.”

Treasure Chest Foundation CEO and Founder Colleen Kisel expressed her profound gratitude for the generous support shown by the Divine Providence Church parishioners. “The Treasure Chest Foundation is especially grateful for 14 years of enormous donations of toys, gifts, gift cards and the continuous support of Divine Providence Church,” said an appreciative Ms. Kisel. “It is wonderful to see the giving members of this church come together to help little ones whose lives have become filled with doctors, nurses, surgeries, pills, chemotherapy, radiation and mostly painful, painful procedures.”

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 13,300 young cancer patients in 56 cancer treatment centers 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 of 2019.

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.