Kiwanis Club Bingo Donates to Help Kids Fighting Cancer

The Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation was overjoyed to receive a donation of toys and $440 recently from the Orland Park Kiwanis Club Bingo members. The donation will directly benefit children and teens fighting cancer.

Kiwanis is a global organization of members from every age dedicated to changing the world, one child and one community at a time.

Orland Park Kiwanis Club Treasurer Jeff Berenson said, “The Orland Park Kiwanis Club likes to support charities involving children. Our volunteers truly believe in the cause.”

Treasure Chest Foundation CEO and Founder Colleen Kisel expressed her gratitude for the support shown by the Orland Park Kiwanis Club. Colleen said, “We feel so blessed and honored to have the support of the Kiwanis Club. The donation will help support thousands of children and teens who endure years and years of unending cancer treatments by rewarding the little ones with a toy, gift or gift card after every procedure.”

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 2021.

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.