Coffeescript function within function not being called on click

I'm sure this is simple but I can not make this function be called on the click event. I have tried various incarnations but can't get it to play nicely. If I move the if/else loop within each click event it works without problem. I'd just like to make the code a little DRY by moving the loop to a single reference function. Is this a syntax issue or a logic problem? - Thanks in advance.

DOES NOT WORK

$(".filter_option").click ->
      $('#submission_list').children(".item ").show()
      checkIfItemsEmpty()

$('#current_filters').on 'click', 'a.filter_remove', ->
      $('#submission_list').children(".item").hide()
      checkIfItemsEmpty()

checkIfItemsEmpty = () ->   
  if !$('.item').filter(':visible').length
      $('#no_results').show()
      console.log('The show command was triggered')
  else
      $('#no_results').hide()
      console.log('The hide command was triggered')

WORKS

$(".filter_option").click ->
      $('#submission_list').children(".item ").show()
      if !$('.item').filter(':visible').length
         $('#no_results').show()
         console.log('The show command was triggered')
      else
         $('#no_results').hide()
         console.log('The hide command was triggered')

$('#current_filters').on 'click', 'a.filter_remove', ->
      $('#submission_list').children(".item").hide()
      if !$('.item').filter(':visible').length
         $('#no_results').show()
         console.log('The show command was triggered')
      else
         $('#no_results').hide()
         console.log('The hide command was triggered')