Potawatomi Hotel & Casino’s signature charity program Heart of Canal Street pulled in a record $1.2 million in 2019 to benefit 31 area children’s charities.
The campaign total was the highest in the program’s 26-year history, Potawatomi said.
As this year’s “Charity of Choice,” Milwaukee-based nonprofit Sojourner Family Peace Center will receive the first $100,000 raised during the campaign. Sojourner plans to direct the funds to Camp HOPE, a week-long summer camp for kids affected by domestic violence.
Heart of Canal Street funds are raised primarily through Canal Street bingo games played during every bingo session from August through mid-December.
Twenty organizations were selected randomly out of a pool of 150 applicants to benefit from the campaign. They joined 10 signature charities previously selected by Potawatomi’s media partners in August.
The full list of organizations that received donations this year include:
Signature Charities
- ACTS Housing—presented by BizTimes
- ALS Association of Wisconsin— presented by Lamar Outdoor
- Arts at Large— presented by 88nine Radio Milwaukee
- Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro MKE— presented by WITI Fox 6
- Girls On the Run— presented by Fox Sports Wisconsin
- Kids Matter, Inc.—presented by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
- Sharp Literacy— presented by Clear Channel Outdoor
- Special Olympics— presented by WTMJ TV
- Special Spaces— presented by Good Karma Brands
- Zachariah’s Acres— presented by CBS 58
Randomly selected charities
- Sixteenth Street Community Health Center
- Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Central Wisconsin
- COA Youth and Family Centers
- Harry and Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center
- Healing Hearts of Waukesha County
- Hope Center
- Islands of Brilliance
- Keep Greater Milwaukee Beautiful
- Milwaukee Chamber Theatre
- Milwaukee Tennis and Education Foundation
- Mount Mary University
- OMNI Enrichment
- Saint Francis Children’s Center
- Special Methods in Learning Equine Skills (S.M.I.L.E.S)
- Sunset Play House
- Team UP! With Families
- The Food Pantry Serving Waukesha County
- Wisconsin Community Services
- Vision Forward Association
- YMCA of Greater Waukesha County
