Variety - The Children’s Charity of Texas

About Variety - The Children’s Charity of Texas

The year was 1935. Claude Ezell, one of Texas’ leading showmen, made a suggestion to a group of business associates that they should apply for a Variety Club Charter. This was at a time in which the country was in the middle of what history now calls The Great Depression. But, when everything was bleak, Mr. Ezell saw a reason start this Club. Through his initial vision, and the hard work of R.J. O’Donnell, the Variety Club of Dallas was started. Within the Aldolphus Hotel, J.B. Dugger, Buddy Harris, C.E. Hilger, Mike Rice, Harold Robb, Paul Scott, J.B. “Jack” and W.G. “Bill” Underwood, Wallace Walthall, Ed Wilson and R.J. himself became the eleven charter members for the Club. They were soon joined by other local business leaders such as Skipper Cherry, John Rowley and Julius Schepps. Their club was not just a social business leader’s luncheon circle. No, their club had another purpose. These men all shared a common vision. This vision was that children who were affected by poverty, abuse, neglect as well as those with illnesses and disabilities should be given the same opportunities other children had within their communities. Over the past 70 years, Dallas has changed. The people and the programs of the Club have changed. Its name has changed (from Variety Club of Dallas to Variety the Children’s Charity of North Texas). But, what has not changed…is its desire to help children. The vision that those eleven men, and others like them, brought to the Adolphus Hotel in 1935 is still evident in everything we do. Variety has a long history of helping children in Texas. Through support of local children’s charities, to ensuring hospitals have adequate medical facilities and access to much needed items, to providing underprivileged children with their very own bicycle, to ensuring that children have a reason to celebrate over the holiday season…Variety meets is mission. Today, Variety the Children’s Charity of Texas (a.k.a. Tent 17) is still dedicated to promoting and protecting the health and well-being of children all across North Texas. While we are still the “Heart of Show Business,” our members and volunteers now come not only from the entertainment industry…but also from a “variety” of business, industry and professional sources. For questions, or information about upcoming events, please feel to contact Variety directly at 512.328.5437 or through e-mail. When Catherine was five, her foster parents were selected from more than 300 applicants in a location away from Pittsburgh and her anonymity was preserved in her best interest. Her new family changed her name to Joan. She later served her country as an officer in the U.S. Navy during the Korean conflict and as a registered nurse in Vietnam. Joan raised a family of her own and spent much time working with children. She took great pride in the fact that she had “started it all”. As Mrs. Joan Mrlik, she lived in Charleston, South Carolina, where she died of cancer in 1994. Her inspirational story that motivated the establishment of Variety the Children’s Charity lives on. Her memory remains strong in the hearts of every member of the Variety family.