Our Mission

The Dick Wagner “Remember the Child” Memorial Fund creates and funds music therapy programs for hospitalized and special needs children. We provide musical instruments and music therapy enrichment programs to bring the healing powers of music and creativity to life.

Music empowers. Creativity enriches lives, We give from the heart to the soul through music.

• • The benefits of Music Therapy are broad based. Music therapy supports the physical, emotional, social and cognitive well-being of children.
• • Singing and playing music enhances mood, emotional expression, improves functional and cognitive motor skills, and motivates children to grasp, reach, walk, or stand.
• • Clinical studies reveal physical benefits of improved respiration, decreased pain perception, lowered blood pressure, improved cardiac output, reduced heart rate, and relaxed muscle tension.

• • We supply funding for hospitals to hire Board Certified Music Therapists to work with hospitalized children.
• • Our Board-Certified Music Therapists are degreed professionals, trained in multiple proficiencies: physiology, the sterile medical environment, musical performance, and music education.
• • Our music therapists bring hands-on music activities and the joy of music directly to hospitalized children.
• • For children who cannot leave their rooms, our therapists “suit up” in antiseptic clothing and masks, and bring musical instruments into the hospital room.
• • Our music therapy video series, Shake, Rattle & Rock®, brings music therapy performances directly into hospital rooms and care facilities.
• • Our Fetal Heartbeat and Transplant Programs help families record and memorialize the heartbeats of babies and children at risk.
• • For each hospital that we support, we donate an assortment of musical instruments — violins, guitars, ukuleles, keyboards, percussion, and more.