On Christmas Eve 1928, John H. Harris, manager of the Sheridan Square Theatre in Pittsburgh, was shocked to discover a one-month-old baby girl abandoned on one of the theatre seats with a note pinned to her dress:
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 show business and I pray to God you will look out for her.
A Heartbroken Mother
Show business rose to the occasion. Although the “Variety Club,” a
social club created by Harris and 10 additional entertainers, was
created a year before the baby was found, the men dedicated this club
to caring for the baby, and agreed to underwrite her support and
education. They named the child Catherine “Variety” Sheridan. In the
process of caring for Catherine, they became aware of many other
children in need of help and support and continued to raise money even
after an adoptive family had been found for Catherine. The heartwarming
situation soon aroused the interest of entertainers all over the world
and motivated them to join together to help children with needs and
disabilities everywhere.
As for Catherine, she was adopted
when she was 5 years old, and spent the rest of her childhood in New
York as Joan Riker. Her daughter, Lisa Brush, said that Joan grew up
knowing she was adopted, but didn't really know the impact of Variety
until later. It wasn't until the 1970s, when Joan was living in the
Philippines with her husband and four children, that Morton Sunshine,
another "founding father" of Variety, contacted her by letter. Joan
kept in contact with Sunshine, but she was not ready to go public as
the Variety baby until 1980. It was in that year that she and her
family attended the Variety International Convention in Los Angeles,
and from that point on, she did anything she could for Variety chapters.
From its humble beginning, Variety has become an international organization with more than 10,000 members and 43 chapters in 13 countries. Collectively, Variety has raised more than $1 billion, reaching out heart-to-heart, hand-to-hand to children in need throughout the world.
Click here to view Variety International's web site.
Variety the Children’s Charity of St. Louis is a vital link in this chain. Serving 19,000 local children in 487 ZIP codes, every dollar raised in St. Louis stays in the Greater St. Louis region.