Toy Con Toy Shows 24th Year of Supporting 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 4th and December 5th at the Bridgeview Community Center featured 60 toy dealers. When the show was over, Toy Con had raised $1,450 in gift cards and collected thousands of toys for the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF).

Toy Con Toy Show was established in 1992 and is dedicated to presenting toy shows featuring an amazing variety of toys (including action figures, superheroes, 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 24 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 24 years ago to benefit the Treasure Chest Foundation. 100% of their donation will end up in the hands of a child fighting cancer. Overall, the Toy Con Toy Shows’ amazing efforts have netted more than $14,500 in gift cards and more than 100,000 toys over the course of the fundraising events’ existence.

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 14,800 young cancer patients in 63 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 28th 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.