The 27th annual Have-a-Heart Wishathon for the Make A Wish Foundation in Jonesboro, Arkansas raised $547,341 on Friday. The total bested last year’s record fundraising total by more than $80,000. The event is organized by the six radio stations of the Jonesboro Media Group: KDXY (104.9 The Fox), KEGI (100.5 The Eagle), KJBX (Mix 106.3), KDXY-HD2 (Hot 107.5), KDXY-HD3 (EZ 92.7) and KJBX-HD2 (98.5 The Outlaw) and Gray Television’s Jonesboro station KAIT.
The event is a 13-hour radio and television event, both broadcast and digital. It involves over 250 volunteers manning 18 roadblocks across a seven-county area. Fundraisers done by school children brought over $120,000 to the total as well. The group calls the children fundraising effort “Kids for Wish Kids.”
“Christie Matthews, our KDXY program director at the time, brought Make-A-Wish to us 27 years ago,” said Trey Stafford, Saga’s President/General Manager in Jonesboro. “We were all bitten by the Make A Wish bug and, luckily, we can’t get over it!”
“KAIT is thrilled to play a role in making this event happen,” said Hatton Week’s, Gray’s Vice President/General Manager at KAIT. “What Make A Wish does for kids fighting critical illness is indescribable. You don’t understand it until you actually see it.”
In the 27 years the event has been held over ten million dollars has been raised to grant wishes to kids with critical illnesses. The event has drawn national attention for the way it captures and involves the entire region. In 2015, CBS’ 60 Minutes did a feature on the Wishathon. It featured the story of young Kaden Ericcson, who wished for a trip to Australia. Kaden, who was fighting leukemia at the time, unfortunately succumbed to his illness. The segment has been repeated an unprecedented four times. For more information about Make A Wish visit www.wish.org.
“It would be hard to duplicate what happens in this market annually,” said Stafford. “The way this market has bought-in to the whole wish granting process, and the passion with which they make this event successful can’t be explained to someone who isn’t here to watch it and see it. As my colleague Christie Matthews said after the event was over Friday, I’m proud to live here.”
