More than 1,900 students from School District 189 got the chance to visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus and received a selection of holiday gifts
With more than 98% of East St. Louis School District 189 elementary students coming from low income families, according to the 2015 Illinois School Report Card, a special visit with Santa Claus can make a big difference during the holiday season. Nineteen hundred pre-k through second grade students from the district got to experience that first hand this week as they visited the Casino Queen’s winter wonderland, where they visited with Santa and Mrs. Claus during a special stop on Dec. 13 and 14 and took home a wonderful selection of gifts to brighten their holiday.
“For some of the children visiting our winter wonderland, this is the only Christmas they get,” stated Jeff Watson, President and General Manager of the Casino Queen. “Seeing their faces light up as they get to meet Santa and Mrs. Claus and watching them carry their bags with smiles as they leave, are just two of the many reasons we have made this a holiday tradition over the past 23 years for our community.”
The Casino Queen’s annual Toyland event has impacted more than 42,000 children over the years, and an army of volunteers helps to make the event possible year after year. This year volunteers from AmeriCorps and the Southwestern Illinois College baseball team helped transform the ballroom into the winter wonderful setting and assembled the bags filled with gifts before the little ones came to visit on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The AmeriCorps members also served as Santa’s helpers handing out the holiday gift bags to the children after they met with Santa and Mrs. Claus. For several of the AmeriCorps members assisting from District 189, this event brings back memories of when they were children attending the schools which make visits to Toyland every year and received their own bag of gifts. This year, the holiday gift bags were packed with a selection of both practical and fun gifts, including: a knit hat, socks, gloves, president ruler, Magic Ball and Mitt game, wearable blanket and Master of the Arts Painter’s Kit.
“We are so appreciative of Casino Queen for making this event a tradition not only for their staff, but for the children of the school district,” expressed superintendent of East St. Louis School District 189, Arthur Culver. “It really is a magical event.”
Swansea, Ill.-based CQ Holding Company is the parent of the Casino Queen. Located at 200 South Front Street in East St. Louis, Ill., Casino Queen became the first employee owned, locally owned casino in the country in 2012. It was established in 1993 and has since made more than $10 million in charitable contributions and invested more than $200 million in capital improvements on the East St. Louis riverfront. For the past decade, Casino Queen has been recognized for having the nation’s highest slot payback among individual casinos by Casino Player Magazine. For more information, visit www.casinoqueen.com. You can also find Casino Queen on Facebook and Twitter.
# # #
For more information, contact:
Abigail Rolland
(314) 436-9090