Allstate Foundation’s Grant to Benefit Kids Fighting Cancer

The Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation was overjoyed to receive a donation of $10,000 from the Allstate Foundation Grant thanks to Allstate Agency Owner and Treasure Chest Foundation Board President, Palos Heights resident Jack R. Hallberg.

The Allstate Foundation supports the causes that Allstate agency owners care about most by providing Allstate Foundation grants to nonprofit organizations where they volunteer their time to help communities thrive.

The Allstate Foundation Grant will help the Treasure Chest Foundation as it focuses on increasing the number of children’s cancer treatment centers currently served. Treasure Chest Foundation CEO and Founder Colleen Kisel said, “We feel so blessed and honored to have the support of the Allstate Foundation Grant and Board President Allstate Agent Jack Hallberg. This donation will help support thousands of children and teens who endure years and years of unending cancer treatments by rewarding the little ones with a toy, gift or gift card after every procedure.”

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 14,600 young cancer patients in 62 cancer treatment centers in 20 states across the nation and in the District of Columbia. 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 28th anniversary of remission from the disease in March of 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 website at www.treasurechest.org.