Palos Heights Saint Spyridon Hellenic Orthodox Church Handmaidens Youth Ministry Benefits Children and Teens w

In the spirit of giving, the Handmaidens Youth Ministry of Saint Spyridon Hellenic Orthodox Church in Palos Heights are helping children and teens fighting cancer. The girls recently sponsored a toy and gift card drive to benefit the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF). The girls collected 100’s of toys and $45 in gift cards to help children and teens fighting cancer.

The Handmaidens at Saint Spyridon Hellenic Orthodox Church are girls between 7-17 years of age who are geared to work on service projects that teach young girls to offer their time and talents to the church and to the community at large.

Treasure Chest Foundation CEO and Founder Colleen Kisel expressed her profound gratitude for the generous support shown by Rev. Father Tilemahos Alikados, the Handmaidens and Saint Spyridon Hellenic Orthodox Church parishioners. “The Treasure Chest Foundation is especially grateful to the Saint Spyridon Hellenic Orthodox 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 10,000 young cancer patients each month in 18 states across the nation. 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 23rd anniversary of remission from the disease in March of 2015.

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.

Photo caption:

Saint Spyridon Hellenic Orthodox Church Handmaidens (top row, left to right): Marina Alikakos, Angelika Glikis, Aspasia Drikos, Maria Glikis and Sophia Glikis, (bottom row, left to right): Katerina Alikakos, Geia Glikis, Christina Drikos and Dionisia Stamus display donated toys at Saint Spyridon Hellenic Orthodox Church in Palos Heights.