It’s not often that high school students can make and enjoy eating ice cream sundaes during their lunch hour. But that’s exactly what happened at Marist High School in Chicago recently when the Student Ambassador Organization organized a “Make Your Own Sundae” event to raise money for the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF) annual Holiday Toy Drive. The Orland Park-based POTCF is a non-profit 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 nationwide.

Instead of buying a mere bag of chips, Marist students were able to enjoy enormous sundaes with oreo sprinkles, all for a worthy cause. And when the whipped cream had settled, the triumphant Student Ambassador Organization had raised an impressive $497 to benefit children and teens fighting cancer. After the final amount had been collected, Student Ambassador Organization members took the funds to a local Toys-R-Us store and handpicked the toys they felt would be most appreciated by children battling cancer.

Alex Brown, Student Ambassador Organization coordinator, said, “Marist students have been raising money for the Treasure Chest Foundation for more than five years now. We cannot think of a more worthy cause.” Marist High Student Ambassador Barrett Callaghan added, “Anything for the kids that are less fortunate than us.”

POTCF Founder and CEO Colleen Kisel is especially grateful to the Student Ambassador Organization, faculty and students for their generosity and support in raising such an impressive total. “Thanks to the success of their creative Make Your Own Sundae event, our Foundation will make 2013 a brighter and happier year for young cancer patients who benefit from our services across the nation,” said Ms. Kisel.

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 7,900 young cancer patients each month. Nowhere else in the nation does such a program exist. Colleen 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 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.