Wilmette Brothers Organize Holiday Toy Drive to Help Children

The family and friends of nine-year-old Blake and six-year-old Brandon Sander are giving to children fighting cancer. Wilmette brothers hosted a holiday toy drive by asking neighbors, friends, family and their school to donate a toy with the goal of helping children and teens fighting cancer. 100’s of toys were collected to be distributed to children fighting cancer to the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation in Orland Park. Young Blake Sander said, “We wanted to have more toys to donate for the children in the hospital.” Five-year-old Brandon chimed in saying, “I wanted to share with the kids who have cancer.”

Blake and Brandon’s dad Jason Sander said, “2020 was a rough year for everyone but much harder for children that were in the hospital with cancer. We hope that the hundreds of toys we collected bring hundreds of smiles to the faces of children going through tough times. The Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest is an amazing organization, and we are thrilled to help. We look forward to continuing this tradition and are fortunate to have friends and family that help us with this tradition every year.”

Treasure Chest Foundation CEO and Founder Colleen Kisel extended her most sincere gratitude to the Sander family for their efforts in organizing such a successful 5th annual holiday toy drive. “The Treasure Chest Foundation is especially grateful to the Sander family for their enormous donation,” said a grateful Colleen Kisel, Founder and CEO of the Treasure Chest Foundation. “We are certainly grateful to be able to distribute such an impressive number of toys to the brave children and battling cancer.”

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 14,600 young cancer patients in 61cancer treatment centers in 20 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 27th anniversary of remission from the disease in March of 2020.

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.