Mokena Girl Makes a Difference to Help Children Fighting Cancer

Children battling cancer will have reason to smile thanks to Mokena resident Lilia Berenson. Lilia (age 9) organized her own toy drive to benefit the Treasure Chest Foundation. Toys and gifts were dropped off at the Berenson home and Lilia’s grandmother's barn after Lilia sent out a social media post asking for donations. Lilia said, “I want to make other kids happy and bring them some joy.”

“It is nice to witness children helping children,” said an appreciative Colleen Kisel, Founder of the Treasure Chest Foundation. “We are happy to have the support of young Lilia. Her innovative toy drive could not have come in at a better time. The toys will brighten the lives of so many brave children battling cancer.”

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 15,300 young cancer patients in 64 cancer treatment centers in 21 states across the nation and in the District of Columbia. 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 29th anniversary of remission from the disease in March of this year.

If you would like further information about the Treasure Chest Foundation, please contact Colleen Kisel at 1-708-687-TOYS (8697) or visit the Foundation’s website at www.treasurechest.org.