Faith United Methodist Church in Orland Park Benefits Children

In the spirit of giving, the parishioners of Faith United Methodist Church in Orland Park are helping children and teens fighting cancer. The Mission Group recently sponsored a toy and gift card drive to benefit the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF), a non-profit organization that provides comfort and distraction from painful procedures to children and teens diagnosed with cancer. When the last toy and gift card came in, the parishioners donated more than 100 toys and $25 in gift cards.

Faith United Methodist Church in Orland Park is a church family dedicated to bringing people to Jesus Christ through worship, education, mission and fellowship. Mission Committee Chairperson Genie Lang said, “We are a small group from Faith United Methodist Church. Twice a year we get together to discuss a book and then choose a mission. This fall we have chosen the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest. We pray that these gifts will brighten the day and put a smile on many faces.”

Treasure Chest Foundation CEO and Founder Colleen Kisel expressed her profound gratitude for the generous support shown by the Faith United Methodist Church parishioners. “The Treasure Chest Foundation is especially grateful to the Faith United Methodist Church for their enormous donation of toys and gift cards,” 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 14,000 young cancer patients in 58 cancer treatment centers in 20 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 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.

(not pictured): Janice McBride, Debby Fuller, Bob Fulton, Raymond Eckert, Debbie Gruetzmacher, Sally Puzon, Sarah Kubicki, Bea Doctor and Mary Kough.