Make-A-Wish Foundation
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40 free Make-A-Wish Foundation trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Make-A-Wish began with one seven-year-old who wanted to be a police officer. In 1980 a handful of Arizona state troopers gave him a uniform, a badge and a day he never forgot, and then decided that other seriously ill children deserved the same. More than four decades later the charity grants wishes in nearly 50 countries. This quiz collects the best fun facts about Make-A-Wish: how the first wishes came together, the day thousands of strangers turned out for Batkid, the athletes, actors and wrestlers who have granted hundreds of wishes, and the rules that decide who qualifies. Some of the answers overturn things most people assume about the charity. It is written for supporters, volunteers and fundraisers, for teachers and club leaders planning a charity event, and for anyone who has wondered how a wish actually comes true. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you leave knowing the story as well as the score.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Chris Greicius, whose wish inspired Make-A-Wish, wanted to be a motorcycle cop like the heroes of which TV show?
CHiPs
CHiPs made Ponch and Jon the idols of the seven-year-old, who had leukemia. Arizona state troopers gave him a uniform and a badge and made him an honorary patrolman.
Q 02Which WWE wrestler, a wish granter since 2002, holds the Guinness World Record for most Make-A-Wish wishes granted?
John Cena
John Cena passed 650 wishes in 2022, when Guinness recognised the record. Make-A-Wish had already honoured him as the first person to reach 300.
Q 03Which California city turned into Gotham for a day in 2013 so a five-year-old leukemia survivor could be Batkid?
San Francisco
San Francisco drew thousands of volunteers after a Make-A-Wish email asked for a few hundred. The crowds cheered as Batkid rescued a woman tied to the cable car tracks.
Q 04Which entertainment company, part of the first official wish in 1981, features in about half of Make-A-Wish wishes?
Disney
Disney has been part of the story since 1981, when the first official wish kid visited Disneyland. Around three in four wishes involve travel of some kind.
Q 05After the first official Make-A-Wish wish in 1981, how did firemen enter Bopsy Salazar's third-floor hospital room?
Through the window
Through the window, off the ladder of their own engine, is how the crew arrived, to the surprise of the boy's doctor. Seven-year-old Bopsy, an honorary member of that crew, died the same night.
Q 06Which widely assumed entry rule for a Make-A-Wish wish is a myth, according to the charity's own FAQ page?
Being terminally ill
Being terminally ill is not required. A child needs a critical illness, and Make-A-Wish says many of the children who qualify go on to lead healthy lives.
Q 07Which basketball great did Make-A-Wish name Chief Wish Ambassador in 2008, five years before his 200th wish?
Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan had raised more than $5 million for Make-A-Wish by 2019, on top of the wishes he granted in person.
Q 08A Minnesota teenager's 1996 wish to hunt which Alaskan animal put Make-A-Wish in the sights of animal-rights groups?
Kodiak bear
Kodiak bear was the teenager's choice. Safari Club International equipped the trip, the Humane Society asked for it to be withdrawn, and Make-A-Wish later stopped granting hunting wishes.
Q 09Until a swirl and star replaced it in 2000, the Make-A-Wish logo was built around which object that people wish on?
A wishbone
A wishbone was the logo until the swirl and star arrived. The change came in the same year that Make-A-Wish began serving every community in the United States.
Q 10For his 2013 Make-A-Wish day, Batkid rode with Batman in a black sports car, with bat logos, from which carmaker?
Lamborghini
Lamborghini was the make of both 'Batmobiles', which carried the two heroes and the boy's family under police escort.
Q 11Make-A-Wish was founded in 1980 in which Arizona city, where its national office is still based?
Phoenix
Phoenix is where a group of state troopers, friends and family met in the summer of 1980 to start the charity. For months they kept its records and cash in envelopes.
Q 12Which wrestler, then the face of the WWF, was named the most requested celebrity of the 1980s for Make-A-Wish?
Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan was a hero to children for most of that decade, after a role in Rocky III helped turn Hulkamania into a craze.
Q 13Which vehicle carried seven-year-old Chris Greicius to Arizona state police headquarters for his 1980 wish?
Helicopter
Q 21What insignia did Chris Greicius earn in 1980 by steering his battery-powered motorcycle through a course of cones?
Wings
Wings mark a qualified motorcycle officer, so a patrolman set up the test at the boy's house. A uniform shop had worked all night to make him an outfit in his size.
Q 22Make-A-Wish accepts wish referrals from medical staff, parents, family members and which fourth, more surprising party?
The child
The child can put their own name forward. Make-A-Wish limits referrals to those four groups out of respect for families' privacy.
Q 23Which fundraising method has Make-A-Wish banned nationwide, warning that sound-alike charities use it?
Telemarketing
A helicopter collected the boy from hospital, and a patrol car and a motorbike were waiting for him when it landed. He left with a trooper's hat and a real badge.
Q 14Which US president granted the first presidential Make-A-Wish wish, to a girl named Amy?
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan granted Amy's wish in 1983, the same year the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America was incorporated as a national body.
Q 15Animal-rights campaigners once offered a wish kid a day on set with which James Bond actor instead of a trophy hunt?
Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brosnan was filming in Idaho in 1996 when a Los Angeles group lined up the visit. By then the teenager was already out hunting in Alaska.
Q 16Make-A-Wish denies any part in a decades-old chain letter urging people to send what to British boy Craig Shergold?
Greeting cards
Greeting cards reached him by the hundreds of millions, long after he had recovered from a brain tumour. Make-A-Wish says another charity granted his wish, and it recycles any mail it is sent.
Q 17Which Batman villain did Batkid stop from robbing a bank vault during his 2013 Make-A-Wish adventure?
The Riddler
The Riddler was played by a local actor and caught in the financial district. Batkid then chased down the Penguin, who had kidnapped a baseball team's mascot.
Q 18Besides a day as a fireman and a theme-park trip, the first official Make-A-Wish wish in 1981 included a ride in what?
A hot-air balloon
A hot-air balloon was the third part of seven-year-old Bopsy Salazar's wish. The young charity, which had raised about $2,000 by then, chose to grant all three parts.
Q 19Which Arizona motorcycle patrolman and Make-A-Wish co-founder is the subject of the 2019 film Wish Man?
Frank Shankwitz
Frank Shankwitz led the police procession at the funeral of the boy whose wish started it all, then served as the charity's first president until 1984.
Q 20Linda Pauling, honoured by Make-A-Wish as a co-founder, was which relative of first wish child Chris Greicius?
His mother
His mother saw him receive a made-to-measure uniform days before he died. More than 40 years later she was guest of honour at a World Wish Day walk in Athens.
Telemarketing is ruled out by a nationwide policy, along with door-to-door collecting. The charity's advice is to ask any caller to post more information instead.
Q 24Which Oscar-winning actress was announced in 2015 as producer and lead of a feature film about Batkid?
Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts planned to adapt the documentary Batkid Begins, which had its premiere at the Slamdance festival that same month.
Q 25Which Saturday Night Live cast member used her teenage Make-A-Wish wish to take her family to Hawaii?
Vanessa Bayer
Vanessa Bayer was diagnosed with leukemia at 15. She later built a sitcom, I Love That for You, loosely on her life as a childhood cancer survivor.
Q 26For World Wish Day, the 29 April anniversary of Chris Greicius's wish, landmarks have been lit in which colour?
Blue
Blue lights stand for the children still waiting for a wish. The day was first celebrated in 2010, thirty years after Arizona troopers made a sick boy one of their own.
Q 27Which loyalty reward, which never expires once donated, does Make-A-Wish ask supporters to give?
Airline miles
Airline miles are needed by the billion. Make-A-Wish estimates that covering every travel wish in a year would take more than 2.8 billion of them, or 50,000 round-trip tickets.
Q 28On which ESPN show does the yearly My Wish series pair Make-A-Wish kids with their favourite athletes?
SportsCenter
SportsCenter has run the series as a week of reports narrated by Chris Connelly, a former MTV host and Rolling Stone music critic.
Q 29Which magazine's 1988 article on people who bring joy to sick kids gave Make-A-Wish international attention?
Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest ran the piece three years after a clip called Stephanie in the Snow had inspired a wave of new chapters across the United States.
Q 30Which fictional reporter got a byline in the Gotham City Chronicle, the special newspaper edition printed for Batkid?
Clark Kent
Clark Kent shared the front page with his colleague Lois Lane, under a headline announcing that Batkid had saved the day.