Westchester church benefits children with cancer

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Members of the Westchester Community Church, Jill Rouse and Lou Bender, at the Treasure Chest Foundation’s warehouse.

Updated: February 22, 2012 12:13PM

In the spirit of giving, the parishioners of Westchester Community Church in Westchester are giving to children and teens fighting cancer. The church recently sponsored a Toy and Gift Card Drive to benefit the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation.

“We are happy that things are going so well and that we are able to support this worthy cause for four years now,” said Parishioner and Chairwomen Lou Bender.

Board of Director Jill Rouse said she was impressed and happy to see so many donations for the foundation.

The foundation is a nonprofit organization that provides comfort and distraction from painful procedures to children and teens diagnosed with cancer by providing a toy, gift or gift certificate in 41 hospitals nationwide. Nowhere else in the nation does such a program exist. Chief Executive Officer Colleen Kisel founded the organization in 1996 after her then 7-year-old son Martin had been diagnosed with leukemia in 1993. 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 recently celebrated his 18th anniversary of remission from the disease.

“The Treasure Chest Foundation is especially grateful to Westchester Community Church for their enormous donation of toys, gifts and gift cards” Kisel said. “It is wonderful to see this giving church come together to help little ones whose lives have become doctors, nurses, surgeries, pills, chemotherapy, radiation and mostly painful, painful procedures.”

For more information about the foundation contact Kisel at (708) 633-8699.