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The Dowco Group of Companies continue to work with Variety, the Children’s Charity throughout the year.  Variety, the Children’s Charity, formerly known as the Variety Club has undergone a transformation both in name change and in branding.  Over the last several years Variety the Children’s Charity has teamed up with all other Variety organizations throughout the world and adopted a standard logo (from Variety the Children’s Charity in Australia) that will be internationally recognized.

With the adoption of this new logo, dowco.com Internet helped re-design an implement a brand new look and feel to the Variety website for its November 1, 2005 launch.   dowco.com Internet provides Internet services to Variety the Children’s Charity by providing web development and hosting services, and high speed Internet service to Variety’s office down on Still Creek Avenue in Burnaby.

Annually during the telethon two lucky employees from Dowco participate in the Telethon by answering phones on the Gold Panel.  This past year Rick Station and Ron Cuthbert participated in the Telethon by spending a couple of high-paced hours in the Global TV Studio in Burnaby.  Rick got his 15 seconds of fame by pre-recording a greeting from Dowco right from the news studio. After that it was down to another studio to join the Telethon in action.  It’s quite and experience to see all the action going on behind the camera and in the hallways.  There are hundreds of people busy at work.

This past year Dowco helped raise $7,362,410 at the Telethon.  Answering the phones is extremely heart warming, witnessing the generosity that some people have giving donations.

Here’s some history, from the Variety Website (www.variety.ca).

October 10, 1927 was the date for Variety's opening curtain.  On this day in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a group of 11 men, all close friends, decided to organize a social club where they could relax after work.  For this purpose, a small room was rented in the William Penn Hotel. A decision to call the organization the Variety Club was appropriately made since the members encompassed various phases of show business.

There was no intention of expanding - no thought of asking in additional members. There were no lofty objectives or commitments to an ideal.  The cogent force for its existence was friendship.

Had it not been for the intervention of fate on Christmas Eve of 1928, Variety might not exist today.  A one-month-old baby was abandoned that day and left on a seat in the Sheridan Square Theatre.

When all efforts by the police and local newspapers failed to locate the parents, the club members, which included the theatre owner, John H. Harris, who subsequently became Variety International's first president, decided as a group to act as 11 "godfathers" and to underwrite the infant's support and education.

The child was named Catherine Variety Sheridan, her middle name for the club and her last name for the theatre. The "godfathers" found a new interest in life and were proud that a distraught mother had entrusted her child to show people.

The ensuing publicity put the Variety Club of Pittsburgh on the front pages of newspapers across the nation. Other men in the business wanted to help - they asked if they could join and soon the clubroom was too small.

Before long, Catherine had too much clothing, layettes and toys - more than any one child could possibly use and, thus, other needy children became the beneficiaries of Catherine's "adoption."  In truth, it was the welfare of this one waif that became the inspiration and motivation for people in show business to band together to help children who are underprivileged and have special needs.

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 through the years in her best interests.  Her name was changed to Joan.

She grew up to have a happy family life.  She served her country as an officer in the U.S. Navy during the Korean conflict and as a registered nurse in foreign (public health) service in Vietnam.  She spent a good part of her time working with children and taking great pride in the fact that she "started it all." In 1980 at Variety Clubs International's request, Joan went public and attended the Variety Club Convention in Los Angeles accompanied by her husband, three sons and daughter.

Upon learning of Joan's death in 1994, at age 65, International President John Ratcliff said, "Joan will always be remembered with great fondness for her ceaseless and outstanding devotion and willingness to help Variety Club's cause on behalf of children in need.  She has always been our inspiration and will continue to be so in the years to come."

Today, Variety - The Children's Charity has changed in many ways - gone is the word "Club" from our name to foster inclusion rather than exclusion…and while we still honour our history, we are more interested in adapting to the constantly changing fundraising environment of the 21st century. Most importantly, our basic ideology remains the same: we help children and their families who need our help.