Grand Foundation hosts toy drive for young cancer patients

ORLAND PARK — No child cancer patient looks forward to the next prod or poke as their medical treatments continue over weeks, months or years.

But thanks to the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF), they may very much look forward to what comes next — a brand new toy or gift card that they can choose from a chest full of donated bounty.

And throughout July, those who’d like to support this terrific endeavor can drop off donations at all Illinois Grand Appliance and TV locations. Stores are located in Orland Park, where POTCF is based, as well as in Chicago, Crystal Lake, Downers Grove, Forest Park, Lake Zurich, Libertyville, Naperville, Round Lake Beach and Waukegan, said Meagan Gauri, executive director of The Grand Foundation, which has hosted a 12 Months of Giving program since 2019.

“Getting a cancer diagnosis to begin with is traumatizing and difficult,” Gauri said. “Having that diagnosis fall to a child, as a parent, that’s got to be gut-wrenching. What the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation does, by making going to treatment a little bit easier to take, is wonderful.”

Gauri said she seeks out nonprofits that are doing great things in communities that Grand Appliance serves. Beneficiaries have included nonprofits focused on education, literacy, the arts, veterans’ and first responders’ causes, diversity, inclusion and equity, and others that serve those who are food insecure.

To date, grants have been provided to roughly 100 different organizations, she added. Drives and volunteer sessions also are a frequent facet of the foundation’s work.

POTCF serves 14,600 children and teens monthly in 62 children’s cancer treatment centers across the country, including Ann and Robert Lurie Children’s Hospital, the Ronald McDonald Children’s Hospital at Loyola Medical Center, Cook County Children’s Hospital and Comer Children’s Hospital, all in Chicago or the surrounding area.

The Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation was the brainchild of Colleen Kisel, whose son, Martin, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia in 1993 at age 7.

“I was lucky,” Kisel said. “He is 37 today. His treatment at the time was 3 ½ years long.”

Kisel said she started her organization in 1996, intending initially to provide exciting toys for children also undergoing procedures in the hospital where Martin was treated.

“The community really got behind the idea and put a bee in our bonnets,” she said, noting that the treasure chest program benefits not only the children receiving the gifts, but their parents as well.

“Initially, they are numb. They’re scared,” Kisel said of parents receiving news of a child’s cancer diagnosis. “As time goes on, they know that in the morning they can remind their little ones that they can do this, because afterward, they get to go to the treasure chest.”

She also noted that POTCF donors are generous souls.

“They bring in high-end Barbies, action figures, really nice dolls, anything that’s current,” she said. “We want this to be something that the little ones will remember and be motivated by, something that will help them get out the door in the morning.”

Kisel added that she was thrilled to hear from Gauri and to learn that her nonprofit had been selected for the July drive as well as a $3,000 grant.

“We’re so grateful to have the Grand Foundation in our corner during this time of uncertainty — and during the summer, a time when things generally tend to slow down in terms of donations,” she said. “We guesstimate that we give away about 2,000 pounds of toys each month.”

Among the requested items are action figures, dolls and accessories, toy trucks and cars, toddler toys, jewelry, makeup, purses, scarves and journals, board games, arts and crafts, play-doh, outdoor sporting goods like baseball mitts and balls, phone cases and chargers, and gift cards to Target, Amazon, McDonald’s or Starbucks for teens.

Toys should be new and unwrapped. Stuffed animals are not desired.

Gauri said employees at all Grand locations, including those in Wisconsin, Indiana and Iowa, will be encouraged to participate. Those far from the Illinois donation centers can buy gifts online and have them shipped to POTCF.

For other information, visit grandfound.org or treasurechest.org.