Patti Rose Gives to Treasure Chest in Memory of Girlfriends

The Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF) recently received a donation of more than 1,000 toys thanks to a woman who spearheaded sixteen community-wide toy drives in memory of her childhood friends and sisters Cathy and Alison who died of cancer.

Tinley Park resident Patti Rose said, “Sixteen years ago I spoke to my friend’s Mom, Nan Beard, about giving back and she introduced me to the Treasure Chest Foundation, thus I started “Remembering Cathy and Alison” annual holiday toy drive. When you help someone else, it helps you to forget about the stresses in your life. I do this because of what it does for the kids. The generosity of the people brings tears to my eyes.”

The schools and businesses that participated this year included Christa McAuliffe School, Fernway Park Elementary School, Helen Keller School, John A. Bannes School, Millennium Elementary School, Prairie View Middle School and Virgil I. Grissom Middle School (all located in Tinley Park), Dunkin Donuts (four locations: Frankfort, Mokena, Shorewood and Tinley Park), Homer Dental Care in Home Glen and three Berglund Construction Company offices located in Chicago and Chesterton, IN.

POTCF Founder and CEO Colleen Kisel said, “Patti Rose formulated this idea sixteen years ago when she delivered one van load of toys. Sixteen years later Patti dropped off more than six van loads of toys making this one of her best toy drives on record. Patti is truly a rose.”

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.

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.