Park View Elementary School in Lombard Hosts "Treasure Chest Drive" to Benefit Children with Cancer

Students and families at Park View Elementary School in Lombard are giving to children and teens fighting cancer. The 5th grade students and Student Council recently sponsored a “Treasure Chest Drive” to benefit the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF). After the last item was collected the event had taken in 100’s of toys for children and teens battling cancer.

Park View Elementary School is located in Lombard, IL. The aim of the Park View Learning Community is to nurture optimal academic, social-emotional, and physical growth so all students reach their full potential. Their vision is to produce life long learners by having high standards while making learning ‘too powerful to resist’.

Park View Elementary School 5th Grade Teacher and Student Council Sponsor Kate Ostrander said, “We wanted to help the Treasure Chest Foundation because my co-sponsor Becky Tomasello is a cancer survivor and Becky’s sister lost her cancer battle.” Ms. Kisel expressed her profound gratitude for the generous support shown by the children and families of Park View Elementary School. “The Treasure Chest Foundation is especially grateful to the families at Park View School for their enormous donation of toys,” said Ms. Kisel. “It warms my heart to imagine such an awesome event that ultimately brings in 100's of toys for kids fighting cancer.”

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 9,300 young cancer patients each month. 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 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.