Potawatomi Hotel & Casino’s annual charity campaign “Heart of Canal Street,” will give the first $100,000 raised through campaign bingo games to the City of Milwaukee’s MKE Plays initiative.
Milwaukee Alderman Michael Murphy said in a statement released Thursday the money will be used to renovate the playground at Witkowiak Park on South 4th Street.
“The wonderful generosity of the Forest County Potawatomi has been spread across the city of Milwaukee for many years, and now it will be felt by children on the near south side living near Witkowiak Park, who will have an innovative new playground close to their home,” said Murphy in a statement released Wednesday.
Heart of Canal Street is a charity initiative that began in 1994 to benefit children’s charities in southeastern Wisconsin. Most of the money the initiative raises comes from its Canal Street bingo games played from Aug. 11 through Dec. 15. Half of the either $3 or $7 entry fee participants pay to play in the bingo game goes to the Heart of Canal Street fund for charities, and the other half goes to the winner of the game.
This year, 31 children’s charities will receive money raised by the campaign. In 2015, the initiative raised more than $1 million for 31 charities.
Since 1994, the initiative has made more than 550 donations to local charities totaling nearly $16 million, organization representatives said.
