Tinley Park Girl Scout Daisy Level Troop 65142 Collect Toys and Gift Cards to Help Children and Teens Fighting Cancer

Girl Scouts require the leadership and planning skills necessary to make a positive impact in the community. That is exactly what the members of Tinley Park Girl Scout Daisy Level Troop 65142 did when they collected $440 from cookie sales and bought toys, gifts and $95 in gift cards to benefit the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF). Their donation will comfort children and teens fighting cancer across the nation.

The Girl Scout’s mission is to build girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place by helping other people who are in need.

Girl Scout Daisy Troop Leader Jackie Perell said, “This year our Daisy Troop wanted to use their cookie sales profit to help other kids.”

“The Treasure Chest Foundation is especially grateful to Tinley Park Girl Scout Troop 65142 for their gift of service,” said Treasure Chest Founder Colleen Kisel. “Not only do we appreciate the girls’ hard work, but we are so happy to be a part of this wonderful organization which is dedicated to making the world a better place. The Treasure Chest Foundation is a better place because of Girl Scout Troop 65142.”

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 24th anniversary of remission from the disease in March.

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 (left-right): Tinley Park Girl Scout Daisy Level Troop 65142 members Arabella Reid, Ava Klickner, Jada Littlejohn-Leyden, Margaux Perell, Madison Insley, Oliva O'Gorman, Fiona Dillon, Grace Samborski, Aidan Lavery and Jalayla Pryor display some of the toys they collected for kids fighting cancer at the Treasure Chest Foundation’s Orland Park warehouse. Maggie Mech (not pictured).