Sixth Annual Durbins of Evergreen Park Cares for Kids Fighting Cancer a Tremendous Success

Durbins of Evergreen Park is giving to children and teens fighting cancer. The restaurant and bar sponsored it’s sixth annual Durbins Cares event on Saturday, October15th, which included free pizza, mostaccioli, pasta salad, entertainment compliments of Acoustically Skewed, a Fitbit, two split-the-pot raffles and more than 60 raffle baskets that raised nearly $2,600 for the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF). During the past six years the Durbins Cares event has raised an impressive $20,500 to benefit the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation.

Established in 1987 by the McAuliffe family, Durbins is a family-run restaurant and bar and was voted as having Chicagoland’s Best Pizza. Durbins Manager Nancy Meyer said, “Cancer hit my family, my daughter Jennifer was diagnosed with cancer at the age of one and every year I lose more and more people to cancer. Durbins cares and I care, I love helping out and when cancer hits someone really close, you want to get involved with organizations like the Treasure Chest Foundation that help kids with cancer.”

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 10,000 young cancer patients each month in 50 hospitals across 18 states. Nowhere else in the nation does such a program exist. Ms. Kisel founded the organization in 1996 after her then seven-year-old son Martin had been diagnosed with leukemia in 1993. She 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.