The CJAY 92 Kid's Fund was created in 2000 with a mandate to assist less fortunate families and their children in and around the Calgary area.  

The CJAY 92 Kids Fund is unlike most other charities.  Every Friday during the year, you can tune into CJAY 92 and listen to the very real story of regular local families who are dealing with unexpected tragedies and exactly how we are able to help them through the Gerry Forbes Secret Wish.  During the holidays, as needs increase, the Kids Fund steps up and does one or two Secret Wishes every day on the air, and over 50 Secret Wishes off the air.  Each family, depending on their circumstances, generally receives various gift cards worth approximately $800, toys for their children and $1,000 in cash.  The purpose of telling these stories on the radio is not to exploit or embarrass the families - but to give people the opportunity to understand the plight of our neighbors and know exactly where their donations are going.  Every penny that is raised is donated directly back to our Secret Wish families and kids.  
 
The families are selected from dozens of nominations that we receive each week, and are typically dealing with a variety of unforeseeable problems, including severe financial issues, serious illnesses, rare medical  conditions, and too often - terminal diseases.  The Kids Fund therefore has the opportunity to fight on behalf of many different causes.  
 
Although to a lot of people, receiving a cheque for $1,000 would come as a pleasant surprise - some cash to throw on your credit card, or put towards your next vacation - for our Gerry Forbes Secret Wish families, $1,000 can mean the difference between paying rent or living on the street, feeding your children or relying on food kitchens, and even purchasing life-saving medications or just crossing your fingers and praying.  The CJAY 92 Kids Fund is what people can turn to when they can no longer access the food bank, or when they are waiting for insurance to kick in, and especially when there is nobody left to turn to at all.  The money and gift cards that we provide for families buys them time.
 
We have also donated directly to other local charities and causes, and we have delivered gifts and hope to dozens of children spending Christmas in the hospital alone without their families around.  Just a few of our Gerry Forbes Secret Wish stories include a little 8 year old boy with a terminal brain tumor who’s family needed accommodations near the hospital over Christmas, an adorable 3 year old with a deformed heart who really needed some special medical equipment, and that of a young father who passed away on his way home after graduating from the EMT course and didn’t have any life insurance.  We have also fulfilled the dying wish of a young mother with cancer to take her children to Banff for lunch in a limousine, just a few days before she passed.  We helped pay for an honor roll student to travel to a third world country to build a school after her parents were both laid off and were no longer able to pay for the trip themselves.  We got special tickets to a Calgary Flames game for a young kid who was about to go blind.  We have donated vehicles to families without transportation so they can safely take their children to regular specialist appointments when infection and immune systems are at risk.  Sadly, we have also contributed funding for the funerals of some of our Secret Wish parents and children.
 
The CJAY 92 Kids Fund and Gerry Forbes Secret Wish are possible because of the generous community that we live in.  All of our donations come from listeners who are touched by the stories they hear on the radio and companies and individuals who put together fundraisers for us.  It is more of an inspirational “movement” than a charity - It is about helping our neighbors and paying it forward.  The supporters of the CJAY 92 Kids Fund have literally changed the lives of many Calgarians because of their kind hearts and giving nature.  From the bottom of our hearts – THANK YOU.

If you would like to make a donation to the CJAY 92 Kids Fund or would like to nominate a family for the Gerry Forbes Secret Wish please email us below.

*If you have already nominated a family please click here to download the nominator sheet.