Tinley Park Student Sponsors "Friend of Jesus Christmas Project"

In the spirit of the season, Aidan Oconnor (age 10) a student of St. George School in Tinley Park is giving to children fighting cancer. The school recently sponsored a Friend of Jesus Christmas project. Aidan was given an anonymous donation of $50 and asked to give away a gift to someone in need this Christmas. Aidan said “I started looking online for charities in our area that helps kids. I liked how the Treasure Chest put smiles on kids faces.”

St. George School in Tinley Park holds that each child, as a child of God, has a unique potential that requires continuous development while recognizing his/her cultural diversity. Each student is encouraged to grow toward fulfillment as a total person, spiritually, socially, physically, academically and emotionally.

“The Treasure Chest Foundation is especially grateful to Aidan Oconnor and the anonymous donors for their donation of toys,” said Ms. Kisel. “It warms my heart to imagine such an awesome project that ultimately brings in toys for kids fighting cancer.”

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 13,000 young cancer patients enduring 20,000 clinic visits each month in 19 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 of 2017.

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.

Pictured: Aidan Oconnor (age 10) at the Treasure Chest Foundation’s Orland Park warehouse displaying some of the toys purchased with his $50 anonymous donation.