The Lincoln-Way Blue Wave Girls Fastpitch softball team is giving to children and teens fighting cancer. Aided by the participation of more than 60 teams in a summer softball tournament, the Blue Wave team hit a home run by hosting a toy drive and accumulating over 100 toys, gift cards and $125 to donate to the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF), an Orland Park-based, non-profit organization which provides toys and gift cards to childhood cancer patients.
The Lincoln-Way Blue Wave softball team's mission is to further advance the concepts of selflessness and teamwork through community service, charitable works and philanthropy. When Blue Wave team member Ashley Helwig was asked what motivated her to donate to kids fighting cancer, she offered a simple explanation for her remarkable generosity: "I want to put a smile on another child's face."
Ahley's mother, Blue Wave Board Member Anna Helwig, said, "We want to teach the kids about selflessness and charity."
The Blue Wave softball team made an equally strong impression on Treasure Chest Foundation CEO Colleen Kisel, who remarked, "As the Founder of the Treasure Chest Foundation, I realize our effectiveness comes from those committed to making a difference in the community. The Blue Wave softball team has truly made a difference in the lives of children and teens fighting cancer," said an appreciative Colleen.
The POTCF is a unique 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 45 hospitals nationwide. 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 20th 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
