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 10) organized her own holiday toy drive to benefit the Treasure Chest Foundation. Toys and gifts were dropped off at the Berenson home, Lilia’s grandmother's barn and Lilia’s grandfather's weekly Orland Park Kiwanis Bingo event. Lilia sent out social media posts asking for donations and delivered a heartfelt speech to the Kiwanis bingo players. When the last toy rolled in, Lilia donated a vanload of toys and $1,187. Lilia said, “I remember when my little brothers were sick. I watched what happened when people brought them toys. It helped my brothers.” Lilia’s dad Steve Berenson said, “I am very proud of how much my daughter has done. Lilia started this toy drive a couple of years ago and look at how it has grown.”

“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 friends, family and the Orland Park Kiwanis Bingo players. The toys and funding will brighten the lives of so many brave children battling cancer. Just look at what one little girl can accomplish.”

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 16,100 young cancer patients in 66 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 2022.

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.