Orland Park Holiday Toy Drives to Benefit Children with Cancer

Area residents and businesses have an opportunity this holiday season to support children and teens fighting cancer by donating a new toy or gift during the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF) annual Holiday Toy Drive.

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 14,000 young cancer patients in 59 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.

Ms. Kisel emphasized the importance of the Foundation’s efforts by saying, “The toys we collect during this Holiday Toy Drive will enable us to continue providing smiles of joy to more than 14,000 children and teens monthly who are battling cancer across the nation.”

Unwrapped, brand new toys or gifts may be dropped off December 2nd through December 23rd at these locations:

*American School Bus Company, 10000 W. 167th St., Orland Park

*BISA, Bonding and Insurance Specialist Agency, 13841 Southwest

Highway, Orland Park

*Evergreen Senior Living, 10820 183rd St., Orland Park

*Expert Pain Physicians, 10750 W. 143rd St., Suite #50, Orland Park

*Fernway Park Elementary School, 16600 S. 88th Ave., Orland Park

*Gizmo’s Fun Factory, 66 Orland Square Dr., Orland Park

*House of Music, 14426 John Humphrey Dr., Orland Park

*JNJ Complete Auto Care, 15627 S. 70th Court, Orland Park

*Orland Park Fire Department Station 2, 15100 S. 80th Ave., Orland Park

*Orland Park Fire Department Station 4, 16515 S. 94th Ave., Orland Hills

*Orland Park Fire Department Station 5, 8851 W. 143rd St., Orland Park

*Thomas Place, 15415 S. Harlem Ave., Orland Park

*Treasure Chest Foundation, 15430 70th Ct., Orland Park

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