First Midwest Bank in Tinley Park Banks on the Treasure Chest

First Midwest Bank in Tinley Park celebrated the gift of giving during their holiday toy drive to benefit the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF). Ten employees and customers donated numerous toys to help children fighting cancer.

First Midwest Bank is a full-service bank providing a full range of business and retail banking and trust and investment management services through 129 offices located in 64 communities throughout Illinois as well as northwest Indiana and eastern Iowa.

First Midwest Bank Branch Manager Cathy Schneider said, “The Treasure Chest Foundation is a good local organization. It brings the community together. We are happy to support this great cause. Bank Teller Christie Cline added, “This is near and dear to my heart because I am good friends with Martin Kisel.”

Treasure Chest Foundation CEO and Founder Colleen Kisel said, "We are extremely grateful to the First Midwest Bank for their continued support. Their gifts will help brave children battling cancer."

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 14,800 young cancer patients in 63 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 28th anniversary of remission from the disease in March of 2021.

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.