Neighbor News
Tinley Park Heartland Blood Center Has a Heart for Children and Teens Fighting Cancer
Tinley Park Heartland Blood Center employee's Gail Doepp, Jennifer Mines, Karen Morgan, and Alan Garcia proudly display the donated toys.
The employees at Heartland Blood Center in Tinley Park have a heart for children and teens fighting cancer. Heartland Blood Center asked their employees to bring toy donations to the facility during the summer. When the collection was over, the drive accumulated almost 100 toys to donate to The Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation.
Heartland Blood Centers’ first commitment is always to meet local blood needs. Hosting a drive with Heartland means that 100% of blood donated is returned to the communities served by Heartland. As part of their participation in a nationwide resource sharing program, Heartland Blood Centers stands ready to assist other parts of the country during severe blood shortages, national emergencies and increased demands by the armed services.
Tinley Park Heartland Blood Center employees said, “We love helping the Treasure Chest Foundation provide smiles to kids with cancer.” Ms. Kisel, Founder of the Treasure Chest Foundation said, “The POTCF is especially grateful to Heartland Blood Center employees for their enormous donation of toys. We are blessed to have the support of the Tinley Park Heartland Blood Center.”
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The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 10,000 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.
