Treasure Chest Foundation Honors Volunteers of the Year

The Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation has named Rita Parsons of Tinley Park and Diane Ritchie of Chicago’s Mt. Greenwood neighborhood its Volunteers of the Year during the Tenth Annual Treasuring Our Kids Fundraiser in Tinley Park. The prestigious annual award recognizes the hard work of the Foundation’s volunteers who serve on a regular basis.

The dynamic duo shows up like clockwork to help organize, label, pack and prepare the toys and gifts for shipment to Treasure Chests located in the various children’s cancer treatment centers served by the Foundation. Treasure Chest Foundation CEO and Founder Colleen Kisel estimates Diane and Rita have personally prepared more than 350 pounds’ worth of toys weekly for shipping since they started volunteering, enough to stock at least three hospitals or children’s cancer treatment centers for the next several weeks.

The work itself is seldom easy. Both Diane and Rita typically perform the physically challenging jobs as a team of lifting and stacking the boxes once the boxes are ready to be shipped to their ultimate destinations. The pair both recognized the importance of their task, with Diane saying, “I retired so I thought this was a way to give back. I called my friend Rita and we have been coming back weekly ever since.” Rita chimed in by saying, “I had time as well. I am a teacher by trade, and I love kids. God bless the kids served by the Treasure Chest Foundation. The children have the hard job, it’s the least I could do.”

“Volunteers like Diane and Rita are the most important part of our Foundation,” says Treasure Chest Foundation CEO and Founder Colleen Kisel while acknowledging the pair’s hard work and loyalty. “Without them we would never be able to provide smiles of joy to thousands of pediatric cancer patients every month. We are so grateful that Diane and Rita are willing to take time to be here every week. Their assistance has been unbelievable.”

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 26th anniversary of remission from the disease earlier this month.

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:

Diane Ritchie (left) and her friend Rita Parsons prepare a box of toys for shipping to young cancer patients on behalf of the Treasure Chest Foundation. Their volunteer efforts will bring smiles of comfort and joy to thousands of children and teens battling cancer across the nation.