Toy Con Toy Show Supports Kids Fighting Cancer

Toy Con Toy Show of Bridgeview is giving to children and teens fighting cancer. The annual charity toy show, held on December 6th at the Bridgeview Community Center, featured 60 toy dealers, the Midwest Garrison and a visit from Santa. When the show was over, Toy Con had raised more than $3,565 in gift cards and collected thousands of toys for the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF), an Orland Park-based non-profit organization that provides comfort and distraction from painful treatments to children and teens diagnosed with cancer by providing a toy, gift or gift card in 49 hospitals nationwide.

Toy Con Toy Show was established in 1992 and is dedicated to presenting toy shows featuring an amazing variety of toys (including action figures, super heroes, dolls, lunch boxes, sci-fi toys and more) as well as comic books, non-sport cards and rare, hard-to-find collectibles.

Toy Con Toy Show co-founder Terry Mannix said, “It’s been 18 years and we’re still helping provide kids fighting cancer with smiles to keep them going.”

Treasure Chest Foundation CEO and Founder Colleen Kisel appreciates the tremendous support provided each year by the show’s organizers. Colleen said, “Toy Con Toy Show was the very first organization to host a toy drive 18 years ago to benefit the Treasure Chest Foundation. 100% of their donation will end up in the hands of a child fighting cancer.”

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 9,300 young cancer patients each month in 17 states across the nation. 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 22nd anniversary of remission from the disease in 2015.

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.

Photo caption:

Toy Con Toy Show co-founders Terry Mannix (left) and Rich Mannix raised more than $3,565 in gift cards and collected thousands of toys to benefit the Treasure Chest Foundation. Their generous efforts will help bring smiles of comfort and joy to thousands of children and teens battling cancer across the nation.