Variety, the Children's Charity

Variety, the Children's Charity is an organisation founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on October 10, 1927, when a group of eleven men involved in show business set up a social club which they named the "Variety Club". On Christmas Eve 1928, a small baby was left on the steps the Sheridan Square Film Theatre, with a note reading:

Please take care of my baby. Her name is Catherine. I can no longer take care of her. I have eight others. My husband is out of work. She was born on Thanksgiving Day. I have always heard of the goodness of showbusiness people and pray to God that you will look after her. Signed, a heartbroken mother.

Since efforts to trace the mother failed, the members of the Variety Club named the child Catherine Varsity Sheridan, after the club and the theatre on whose steps she was found, and undertook to fund the child's living expenses and education. Later the club decided to raise funds for other disadvantaged children.

The discovery of the baby has inspired the Paramount Pictures film, Variety Girl.

History

In May 1947, a group of members of the Variety Clup of New England, toured Sidney Farber's lab at Children's Hospital Boston, where Farber studied childhood leukemia. As a result of this tour, the group's leader, Bill Koster, and Farber ended up founding the Children's Cancer Research Fund in order to raise money and sponsor research into forms of cancer affecting children. The two men also founded The Jimmy Fund, which raises money for the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute.

Terminology

From its origins in the world of show business, Variety often uses carnival and circus terminology. For instance, a local or national chapter of the charity is known as a "tent", and the main board of trustees and others of a particular tent is called the Crew. This is named after those who erected the old circus tents or nowadays provide the various technical experts to make a film or stage a live production. The chairman of the board is called the Chief Barker, after the man who drummed up customers at the fairground.^{[citation needed]}

Telethons

In some localities, Variety holds fundraising telethons for the organisation.

• Currently, WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York holds an annual Variety telethon for the Children's Hospital of Buffalo in March. The telethon has ran annually for 47 years, though in recent years, WKBW, citing budget problems, has cut the telethon's length. The organisers claimed that this was the longest running locally produced telethon in the world,^{[citation needed]} though the WHAS Crusade for Children and the Green Bay Cerebral Palsy telethon on WBAY-TV both began their runs before the Buffalo Variety telethon.

• CHAN-TV in Vancouver holds an annual Show of Hearts telethon every year, usually the second weekend of February, for the Variety organisation in British Columbia; what previously featured live acts among the stories and pleas to donate, the telethon now features pre-recorded concerts as entertainment, in similar fashion to pledge drives on most PBS stations.

• CKND-TV Winnipeg presented their own annual Show of Hearts every spring, through the early-2000s (decade).^{[citation needed]}

Countries with chapters

To date the organization has grown to include 55 chapters (or "tents" as they are termed by the organization) in 13 countries worldwide, including:

• United States
• United Kingdom
• Canada
• Australia
• Japan
• Israel
• The Netherlands
• New Zealand
• South Africa
• France
• Ireland
• Mexico
• Barbados
• Hong Kong

External links

North America

• Variety of USA
• Variety of Northern California
• Variety of Canada (British Columbia)
• Variety of Buffalo
• Variety Ontario

Europe

• Variety Club of France
• Variety Club of Great Britain
• Variety of the Netherlands

Middle-East

• Variety of Israel

Africa

• Variety of South Africa

Asia

• Variety of Hong Kong
• Variety of Japan

Oceania

• Variety of Australia
• Variety of New Zealand