The students at Conrady Junior High School in Hickory Hills had fun for a worthy cause recently when their school hosted an innovative event designed to raise money for the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF) Annual Holiday Toy Drive.

Rather than having students bring in new toys, Conrady’s unique approach involved a contest of tossing coins into buckets using money graciously donated by teachers, faculty and the students’ parents and grandparents. After the final coin had been tossed, the enthusiastic Conrady students had raised an impressive $1,200 to benefit children and teens fighting cancer. A group of Conrady Student Council Officers then visited the Orland Park Toys-R-Us store and used the money to purchase toys they felt would be most appreciated by children battling cancer.

Conrady Student Council Coordinator Frank Mateja said, “Our Student Council Officers, faculty and the kids who participated in our coin toss just wanted to make sure that the Treasure Chests are full for these brave young cancer patients. We hope the toys we provided will help take their minds off of painful treatments, especially during the holiday season.”

POTCF Founder and CEO Colleen Kisel is especially grateful to the Conrady faculty and the students’ families for their efforts in raising such an impressive total. “Thanks to the success of Conrady Junior High’s creative coin toss, the holiday season will be brighter and happier for thousands of brave children who benefit from our services throughout the nation,” said Ms. Kisel.

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 7,900 young cancer patients each month in 42 hospitals across 13 states. 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. Ms. 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 celebrated his 19th anniversary of remission from the disease in early 2012.

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.