Kolmar Elementary School hosts Family Bingo Night fundraiser
March 20, 2013 12:18AM
Halle (from left), Julie, Leah, Megan and Nathan Bradbury delivered more than 100 toys collected during the Kolmar Elementary School's Family Bingo Night in Oak Lawn to the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation's Orland Park warehouse. | Supplied photo
Students at Kolmar Elementary School in Oak Lawn and their families gave back to children and teens fighting cancer recently by sponsoring a Family Bingo Night to benefit the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation, which is based in Orland Park.
Kolmar is one of six elementary schools in Oak Lawn-Hometown School District 123. The public school has an enrollment of 316 students in grades prekindergarten through fifth grade.
The Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest 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 card in 42 hospitals across 13 states in America.
“Kids helping kids was our goal,” Kolmar Family Bingo Night chairperson Julie Bradbury said. “It hits home more because one of our own is battling brain cancer.”
Colleen Kisel, chief executive officer and founder of the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation, expressed her gratitude for the support shown by the children and families of Kolmar.
“The Treasure Chest Foundation is especially grateful to the Kolmar school families for their enormous donation of toys,” she said.
“It warms my heart to imagine such an awesome family event that ultimately brings in hundreds of toys for kids fighting cancer.”
The Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation is an organization with services that impact more than 7,900 young cancer patients each month.
Officials said that nowhere else in the nation does such a program exist.
Kisel founded the organization in 1996 after her then 7-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 19th anniversary of remission from the disease in 2012.
Information: Colleen Kisel at (708) 687-8697 or treasurechest.org.
Staff reports
