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About Variety - The Children's
Charity
Known until
1999 as the Variety Club, Variety - The Children's Charity is dedicated to
helping sick, disadvantaged and disabled children around the world. Through a range of
'Signature Programmes' and financial grants Variety
encourages all children to live fulfilled and enriched lives
- to strive to reach their full
potential.
Variety is registered as a
not-for-profit which raises all its revenue through public
donations and fundraising events.
Variety
History
In
Pittsburgh in 1927 a group of eleven men, friends from the entertainment
industry, formed a social club which, due to their various showbusiness
backgrounds, they called The Variety Club. Twelve months later on Christmas Eve
1928, a one month-old baby girl was found abandoned on a seat in the Sheridan
Theatre, Pittsburgh. A note was pinned to her dress which said:
"Please take care of my baby. Her
name is Catherine. I can no longer take care of her. I have eight other
children. 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.'
It was signed, 'A Broken Hearted Mother.'
Unable to locate her parents, the theatre manager and the
ten other club members decided to underwrite the infant's care and education.
They named her Catherine Variety Sheridan, and so began Variety's philanthropic
focus. Publicity surrounding Catherine and her benefactors attracted so much
support that following her adoption at the age of five, The Variety Club decided
to actively raise funds to support other disadvantaged children. It was not long
before their efforts established Variety as the children's
charity.There are now more than 50 Variety offices around the world,
all dedicated to bringing sunshine into the lives of needy
children.
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