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ACROSS THE BOARD
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St. Louis
Variety Club Beyond the Telethon
By Pam Droog
Above:
Seated (left to right): Nancy Diemer, John Weber, Sr., Jan Newton,
Larry Siegel, Marilyn Fox
Standing (left to right): Natalea Simmons, Mark Koritz, Michael
J. Roarty, Joan Malloy, Leon Neuman, Evelyn Kiefer
Board Members not present: John Bachmann, G. Duncan Bauman, Kimmy
Brauer, Jack Buck, August A. Busch III, William H. T. Bush, Jerry
Clinton, Allan Cohen, William Compton, Steve Cousins, Andrew Craig,
David Darnell, Terry Egger, Ken Fanger, Georgia Frontiere, Judy
Jones, Al Kerth, Charles Knight, Mary Ann Krey, Jill Kummer, E.
Desmond Lee, Steve Maritz, Jerry McElhatton, Tony Ponturo, Steve
Schankman, Scott Schnuck, Ozzie Smith, Thelma Steward, Gloria White
With its top stars, non-stop entertainment and live action, the
Variety Club Telethon truly is as big a production as it appears
on KMOV-TV Channel 4 every April. Behind the show, and dozens of
other St. Louis Variety Club events and activities, is a board of
40 St. Louisans committed to helping disabled and disadvantaged
children in ways no one else can.
The Variety story began in Pittsburgh on Christmas Eve 1928. A group
of show business people found an abandoned baby in a theatre and
dedicated their new club, the Variety Club, to her and other children
in need.
“Variety is there for kids who fall through the cracks,” says executive
director Jan Albus. Currently, the St. Louis Variety Club, which
began in 1932, serves about 200,000 children a year. It provides
funding for essential medical equipment like hearing aids, power
wheelchairs, leg braces, prostheses and augmentative speech equipment
for 1,162 children. It underwrites special programs at 147 local
children’s agencies and has allocated 150 Sunshine Coach vans.
“There’s always more that we could do,” says board president Jan
Newton, president of Southwestern Bell. “In many cases Variety serves
kids who have exhausted every other avenue of help. Maybe their
parents have used up their insurance or just don’t have many financial
resources. So, there certainly are others out there we haven’t reached.”
But not for lack of trying. The Variety Club board and volunteers
diligently visit area agencies and talk to their directors to find
out what kids’ needs are. Agencies go through a rigorous annual
application and screening process. Allocations are announced in
early December.
Throughout the year, however, the Variety board has plenty to do.
Members serve three-year terms and participate on one or more standing
committees—allocations, telethon, nominating, public relations,
executive, finance, special events/programs and membership.
Albus finds new board members by noting what’s happening in the
region. “There are a tremendous number of people out there who can
make a real difference in the community and in an organization,”
she says. “So we enlist them or take them up on their offers to
help. Or we put out the call for someone who has a certain skill
or talent we need.”
As a result, Newton says, the Variety board is “a wonderful representation
of the St. Louis community,” including corporate executives from
finance, transportation, media, manufacturing and other areas, as
well as private philanthropists and volunteers.
“They’re not the kind of people who say, ‘Let someone else take
care of it,’” Albus says. “They are the doers! They’ve done it in
their fields and they’re doing it for these kids.”
That get-it-done attitude has enabled the St. Louis Variety Club
to raise more money than practically any other of Variety’s 53 international
chapters.
Part of the credit goes to the 150 Variety Club Women who work year-round
planning events that will benefit the children, such as this month’s
house tour.
Young Variety is another vital group that brings in much-needed
funds, and has fun doing it. Its 80 members, who all are under 40
years old, plan special outings for Variety children, plus the annual
Night of the Rising Stars at the Pageant Theatre, which raised more
than $50,000 this year.
“Young Variety is a rejuvenation and mentoring process that trains
young people to understand and become a force in the organization,”
Albus says. “They are very serious about their charge to raise money
for the kids and to be there personally for them. I’m really impressed
with them.”
The Variety board also supports Variety At Work, the umbrella name
for several special events for Variety Club kids and their families.
For example, this month, Variety has planned an outing at the St.
Louis Zoo for 150 special kids. It also sponsors Bikes For Kids,
with the St. Louis Rams, now in its sixth year. The program provides
new bikes for 100 children.
Other Variety activities are a sports camp for disabled youth, the
Schnucks Holiday party and the Variety Children’s Chorus, a charming
ensemble that’s available for performances.
Variety fundraisers include the annual appeal, Cash For Kids, holiday
card sales, planned giving, Imo’s Lunch For Kids and direct mail.
The popular Gold Heart Program offers little pins for $2 each, sold
at movie theaters, select retailers and Variety events. The program
has raised more than $2 million since it began in 1991.
Then there’s the Telethon.
St. Louis is one of only seven Variety chapters that have an annual
telethon. This St. Louis extravaganza has raised more than $56.5
million in the event’s 35-year history. “It’s enormous,” Albus says,
“It’s like a machine,” requiring 1,200 volunteers and 33 committees.
Telethon weekend kicks off with Dinner with the Stars, a black-tie
gourmet gala that raised $700,000 this year. Then the Telethon,
aired on KMOV-TV, runs until midnight and all the next day until
5 p.m. “I usually go home briefly to take a nap,” Newton says. “I
hate to miss too much because it’s so exciting watching the tally
go up as pledges come in.”
This year’s headliner, Kenny Rogers, helped Variety raise $2.8 million.
Past Telethon performers have included Tony Bennett, Ray Charles,
Bob Hope, Liza Minelli, Sammy Davis, Jr., John Goodman, Gladys Knight
and others.
Right now, the Variety board is in its planning and policy mode,
analyzing how funds are raised and disbursed. Although Variety has
a long tradition of fundraising and program development, Newton
says, “My primary goal is to continue to provide leadership that
can help raise money to provide more equipment and programs for
the disabled and disadvantaged children in the area. The main thing
is to evaluate how improvements can be made so funding can grow.”
In addition, through her telecommunications connections, Newton
“has an army from Southwestern Bell assisting with the technological
needs of the organization,” Albus says.
And in between everything else, the Variety board is “working on
the 2003 Telethon now,” Albus says. “Everything marches to the Telethon!”
Pam Droog is a St. Louis-based free-lance writer.
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