Andrew High School Restorative Circles Student Leadership Team Donate

Students at Andrew High School in Tinley Park are giving to children and teens fighting cancer. The Restorative Circles Student Leadership Team recently sponsored a toy drive to benefit the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF). The event brought in more than 100 toys for kids battling cancer.

Restorative Circles Student Leadership Team’s vision is for all children to learn in mindful schools that nurture a new generation of leaders to create a more equitable and thriving world.

Andrew High School Intervention Specialist Tammy Stamus said, “Since my cousin had cancer the Treasure Chest Foundation means a lot to me. This is my way of giving back and helping to put a smile on the faces of kids fighting cancer.”

POTCF Founder and CEO Colleen Kisel is especially grateful to the Restorative Circles Student Leadership Team for their efforts in raising such an impressive number of toys. “Thanks to the success of Andrew High Schools' toy drive, the summer will be brighter and happier for thousands of brave young people throughout the nation who benefit from our services,” said Ms. Kisel.

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 15,300 young cancer patients in 64 cancer treatment centers in 21 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 29th 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 1-708-687-TOYS (8697) or visit the Foundation’s website at www.treasurechest.org.