Toy Con Toy Shows 23rd Year of Supporting Kids Fighting Cancer

Toy Con Toy Show celebrated its first ever drive-thru toy drive at the Bridgeview Community Center and 23 years of supporting kids fighting cancer. A U-Haul full of toys was donated along with $421 and $105 in gift cards.

The drive thru toy drive was held on December 5th and December 6th. The drive featured the Toy Con Toy Show Mascot Retro the bulldog. Every donor received a free gift. Donors were able to drive-up and drop off their new toy, gift card or monetary donation to benefit 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 founder Terry Mannix said, “It’s been 23 years and we’re still helping provide kids fighting cancer with smiles even during the pandemic.”

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 23 years ago to benefit the Treasure Chest Foundation. Toy Con Toy Show did not let the COVID-19 pandemic stop them. Toy Con Toy Show figured out a way to continue to support the kids we serve.”

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.