FUNDRAISING INSERT & SUPPORTING SOCIAL POST
As part of a Christmas campaign, I pitched and petitioned for the opportunity to create a no-ask insert, telling the charity's origin story.
STYLE CHOICES: A slight sepia tone added character to the photograph and a nostalgic font on off-white paper helped recreate the feel of an old newspaper clipping. This purposefully contrasted with the more contemporary tone of the piece, relatable for modern readers, to provide an emotional bridge between then and now.
HIGHLIGHTS: I enjoyed the challenge of transforming a story that was old and seldom told into something relevant and interesting to modern supporters. The insert was very well received and boosted engagement with both new and existing supporters.
OUR CHRISTMAS TALE:
ELEVEN MATES, ONE BABY AND A STORY OF HOPE
Kia ora,
Our kind community of supporters are proud of the difference they're making... and so they should be!
Thanks to you - and many others like you - we're able to create truly amazing outcomes for Kiwi kids in need.
Many of our supporters, however, are unaware of how Variety came to be, and we want to share this with you today: a story of hope and of mates banding together to become ordinary, everyday heroes.
In 1927, in Pennsylvania, a group of eleven men (friends from the entertainment industry) formed a social club, which, due to their various show business backgrounds, they called The Variety Club. The next year, on Christmas Eve, a one month old baby girl was found abandoned on a seat in Pittsburgh's Sheridan Theatre.
A note was pinned to her dress, which read:
"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 kindness of show-business people and pray to God that you will look after her.
A Broken Hearted Mother."
Unable to locate her parents, the club members decided to underwrite the infant's care and education.
They named her Catherine Variety Sheridan.
Publicity around Catherine and her benefactors attracted so much support that following her adoption at age five, The Variety Club decided to actively raise funds to support other disadvantaged children.
Thanks to their efforts, Variety - the Children's Charity is now a worldwide organisation.
Variety New Zealand benefits from its international links, but funds raised in Aotearoa are used to help Kiwi kids.
With the Great Depression looming, Catherine's mother was forced to do the unthinkable, in order to give her child a chance.
Thankfully, that Christmas, eleven heroes rose to the occasion.
Here at Variety, we still believe that by working together we can make real, positive change happen in young lives - now, and into the future.
Thank you so much for your support.
We hope that you and yours will enjoy a safe and happy holiday season.
Ngā mihi nui,
The team at Variety
What became of Catherine?
Catherine was able to make good use of the opportunities given to her by her benefactors. She was renamed Joan Riker by her new parents and grew up in New York.
She attended Cornell University, graduating in 1951, then earned a nursing degree from Cornell Nursing School. She served as a nurse in the Navy and later joined the Foreign Service as a public health nurse in Saigon. While serving in Saigon in the late fifties, she met and married a naval officer named Michael. Later, they settled in Charleston, where he was Port Manager and she worked part time as a nurse.
Joan raised a family of her own, and spent much of her time working with children.