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Community Corner

Palos Heights Man Donates to Help Children and Teens Fighting Cancer

The Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF) of Orland Park was overjoyed recently to receive an enormous donation of $8,000 from the Sharon L. Denning Charitable Trust, courtesy of the trust’s founder, Mr. Leon Denning. The donation will directly benefit children and teens fighting cancer.

 

The POTCF is a non-profit organization that provides comfort and distraction from painful procedures to children and teens diagnosed with cancer by providing a toy, gift or gift card in 48 hospitals across 17 states and the District of Columbia. The Charitable Trust was created by Mr. Denning in remembrance of his beloved wife, Sharon L. Denning.

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“I prefer donating to an organization where you can see where the money is going,” said Mr. Denning. “With the Treasure Chest Foundation, I know that my donation is not dissipated in promotional advertising and excessive administration expenses.”

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Treasure Chest Foundation CEO and Founder Colleen Kisel said, “We feel so blessed and honored to have the support of the Denning family. Their 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 9,000 young cancer patients each month. Nowhere else in the nation does such a program exist. Ms. Kisel founded the organization in 1996 after her then seven-year-old son Martin had been diagnosed with leukemia in 1993. She 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 21st anniversary of remission from the disease earlier 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 web site at www.treasurechest.org.

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