TD Bank, Theissen team up to help needy kids

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As part of its Bring Change Campaign, North Wantagh’s TD Bank teamed up with the John Theissen Children’s Foundation to raise funds and collect school supplies for children in need. 

On Sept. 2, TD hosted the charity event, which they also hoped raised awareness about how the JTCF helps kids. The bank will match monies collected through the fundraiser anywhere up to $2,000.

“TD has been very proactive in reaching out,” Theissen said. “These are kids that have cancer, that are underprivileged, and this really helps out with our Back to School Program.”

TD’s Bring Change Campaign is designed to address neighbors in need. It focuses on issues such as homelessness, food shortages and services for those with special needs. Officials said that funds raised through the program locally have already helped 30 to 40 kids in Levittown — along with many others — where Theissen spent most of his childhood.

“This branch in North Wantagh is only blocks away from where I grew up, attended high school and found out I had a tumor,” he noted. “So, it really hits home.”

When Theissen was 17, he found out he had a brain tumor. During his hospitalization stay, he befriended a young girl named Tasha, who lacked a strong support system and rarely had visitors. The Theissen family cared for Tasha and accompanied her to the yearly children’s hospital holiday party, despite John’s illness preventing his attendance. 

During the party, Tasha used her one request to Santa Claus on John; she wished he had a teddy bear. Her generous spirit was the inspiration behind the John Theissen Children’s Foundation, he said, which was founded in 1992. The organization’s goal is to bring toys to sick and underprivileged children in hospitals and childcare facilities across the region. 

The JTCF has collected more than 920,000 new toys and contributed therapeutic and recreational equipment to children in need. Monetary donations have enabled charity leaders to provide televisions, video game systems, electronics, arts and crafts supplies and more to kids. 

“Almost every person I spoke to said that if I wanted to be involved with the community, then I would have to talk to John Theissen,” TD Bank Manager Ryan Koutsogiannis said. “From that point on, we formed a really good relationship and have really tried to bring a change here.”

With TD Bank’s one-year anniversary coming up in October and JTCF reaching 25 years, Koutsogiannis said the most recent fundraiser also allowed them to celebrate these milestones and their partnership. Monies raised on Friday will be used to benefit the JTCF Back to School Program, which supplies children with new classroom materials; they also collected school supplies from community members who came to the bank.