Jonathan Cain
Discusses Bright Star Foundation

Getting Involved

Bright Star Foundation's Dawn Purtee saw our VH1 "Behind the Music" special and saw that Journey had previously always been very active with children's charities including the T.J. Martell Foundation and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She made a presentation to us and we were so impressed with the Bright Star's work - that we jumped at the chance to work with them.


At The Venues And Along The Tour Route

We raffle off backstage passes to come and meet the band. The raffle tickets cost $2-3 each and the winners come backstage, meet us, sign autographs and we give them pictures. We usually sign auction items like t-shirts or guitars and donate them to the charities as well. As much as $2,000-$3,000 a night can get raised and given right to the charity. It's a good way for us to get involved. Sometimes children from various local charities are invited to watch us soundcheck before our show in their city - and we have even arranged to make hospital visits in cases where children are too sick or too young to come out to the venues and watch us rehearse.


Choosing Charities

The Bright Star Foundation selects the individual charities in each market. Of course, we do have a couple of pet charities like St. Jude's Hospital that we work with on an ongoing basis. But people write us letters all the time saying that our music has touched them and we'd really like to be able to touch them back. It's our little way of saying 'thank you' to the fans who have bought our records and attended our concerts all these years. By our helping charities, everyone becomes aware of the urgency of some of these foundations and causes. When you're in a spirit of celebration, it's the best time to open some of these doors. It's a good thing.


Long Term Plans

My dream was to have an Only The Young Program, which is the name of one of our songs, so Bright Star's putting that together for us! Though the program, we'd like to work to raise funds to help finance surgeries and medical procedures for impoverished children. The way I look at it, we're very grateful and very fortunate to have been in this business for the last 25 years. Getting the approval of so many people, it makes it a privilege to be out here making music and making people smile. It's something you don't take for granted. It's our job to make them think about other stuff. It can be in a song or it can be in helping a charity. I think it goes with our territory to be part of something like the Bright Star Foundation.


Journey's Dedication

Helping charities -especially children's charities - is something we all feel passionate about. We've all got children of our own and there's nothing sadder than a child in a hospital who's not living the life he or she needs or deserves to live. We're raising the awareness that there are little ones in every city across the country who are in a lot of pain and need a little help. When you're playing to 10,000-15,000 people every night, it just make sense to take part of that spotlight and shine it on someone who may feel as though they're in the dark. It's a darn easy thing to do to make a difference.


How Fans Can Help

Our fans are very loyal and dedicated. Without intending to - we raised awareness through our VH1 "Behind the Music" special about the little boy who died of cystic fibrosis. All of sudden it brought attention to that particular cause. I think it's really cool that our fans are so loyal and that people remember can be inspired by what they see and take it home to become involved with their communities. This is a good thing for Journey to be involved in. We just ask our fans to come in and be a part of the raffle. That's such an easy thing. If you see a booth there that says Bright Star, take part in it. Saying a prayer at one of the gigs for a kid that is having a bone marrow transplant or someone who has just come out of the hospital with cancer; there's 10,000 people in the audience and when we're saying a prayer it's a powerful and uplifting thing.