Windy City Poker Championship Touches the Hearts of Children

The players of Windy City Poker in Homewood recently held a toy drive during one of its annual charity poker tournaments. Players were gifted bonus chips for every toy that was donated. Proprietor Kirk Fallah said, “I wanted to give the guys an incentive to bring in toys for the Treasure Chest Foundation.” When the last toy was donated Windy City Poker had raised toys to benefit the Treasure Chest Foundation and ultimately the brave children fighting cancer throughout the nation.

Treasure Chest Foundation CEO and Founder Colleen Kisel expressed her gratitude for the generous support shown by the Windy City Poker Championship members. “The Windy City Poker Championship has been extremely generous to the Treasure Chest Foundation over the years. A donation of this magnitude is a blessing and will brighten hospital visits for so many brave children and teens battling cancer.”

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 14,000 young cancer patients in 59 cancer 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 26th anniversary of remission from the disease in March of 2019.

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.