Orland Park Meijer Grocery Store Donates to Children with Cancer

The Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF) of Orland Park was overjoyed recently to receive an enormous donation of $5,000 from the Meijer Grocery Store located in Orland Park. The Orland Park-based non-profit foundation provides comfort and distraction from painful treatments to children and teens diagnosed with cancer.

Meijer is a family-owned retailer committed to enriching lives in the communities they serve throughout Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Wisconsin. They follow a simple philosophy established by the founder, Fred Meijer, “Take care of the customers, team members and community, and all of them will take care of you, just like a family.” Orland Park Meijer Store Director Cathy Dillow said, “I read about the Treasure Chest Foundation, and it broke my heart, having an organization where the kids with cancer can pick out a free toy after their procedure is amazing!”

Treasure Chest Foundation CEO and Founder Colleen Kisel said, “We feel so blessed and honored to have the support of the Meijer employees. Their 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 this year.

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.