Marist RedHawks Hockey Team Benefits Children with Cancer

Marist RedHawks Hockey Team is giving to children and teens fighting cancer. Aided by the participation of more than 35 hockey players, the team scored big by hosting a toy and gift card drive and accumulating more than 100 toys and gift cards to donate to the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF), an Orland Park-based, non-profit organization which provides toys and gift cards to childhood cancer patients. The hockey team became involved with Advocate Hope hospital as a way to support and reward the brave children undergoing treatment for cancer.

Marist RedHawks Hockey Team is a proud member of the Suburban Catholic Conference and Illinois High School Association. Marist RedHawks consists of two hockey teams; the Varsity team, which consists of twenty players and the Junior Varsity team, which consists of eighteen players.

Marist Hockey Team mom Lynn Prkut said “Another tremendous show of support by the Varsity and Junior Varsity teams for the Advocate Hope Children’s Hospital Oncology Department and the Treasure Chest Foundation.”

POTCF Founder and CEO Colleen Kisel is especially grateful to the Marist RedHawks Hockey Team for their generosity and support in raising such an impressive total of toys and gift cards. “Thanks to the success of their toy drive our Foundation will bring joy for young cancer patients who benefit from our services at Advocate Hope Children’s Hospital.” said Ms. Kisel.

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 9,000 young cancer patients each month in 48 hospitals across 17 states. Nowhere else in the nation does such a program exist. Ms. Kisel founded the organization in 1996 after her then seven-year-old son Martin had been diagnosed with leukemia in 1993. She 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 21st anniversary of remission from the disease earlier this year.

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.