Rooms are filling up fast at the four diamond Renaissance Hollywood Hotel for the 2010 Variety World Conference, so please book now while there are still great deals available!  The agenda will be set in the next week and forwarded to all.  Don't miss this opportunity to meet the Tents and people you hear about doing great things in our newsletter.  Take advantage to learn and grow as a member of Variety International.  Hear success stories, learn what works (or doesn't work) in other areas, why certain fundraising activities and children's projects work, and collaborate with other Tent leadership to pull off great events and make an impact on the lives of children.  And hear about new and exciting initiatives from Variety International.

Variety Pittsburgh, Tent 1 held their 82nd Anniversary Gala "Bella Notte Italia" on November 13 at the Omni William Penn Hotel, where Variety Club held its first annual banquet on November 11, 1928.  Honored were Ralph Papa, Chairman, Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania and The Hill House Association.  The evening commenced with cocktails and pre-dinner entertainment featuring 11 year old vocalist Jackie Evancho, the new voice of classical crossover, who performed songs from Josh Groban and Italian arias.  Variety's more than 300 guests helped to raise $167,000 for Variety's programs and services.

Variety Kansas City, Tent 8 hosted their first "Beer for Bikes" night on Feb 3rd.  They promoted "great beer, good food, awesome music, fun people and free stuff" for a great social evening to attract new friends and raise funds for  "Kids on the Move", an organization that provides therapeutic bikes to Variety kids with physical disabilities.  Word has it that this "friendraiser" / fundraiser is a "Movement in the making", so we'll watch for more.  Check out the creative video they used to promote the event.

Variety of Wisconsin, Tent 14 turns 75 this year and they already have their birthday celebration in full swing...  On Sunday, February 21st they hosted a free hip hop concert by The Figureheads for Variety kids and their families.  The music and dancing is always a great way to get the kids excited and involved.  But it didn't end there, as there were prizes and heart-shaped cookies for everyone.  And you have to see the kids singing and dancing to a special Variety hip hop birthday song!  

 

And, so as not to promote just their fun & games, Variety of Western Australia reported on another exciting program going on throughout the year and producing results.  The Variety Ear Bus is the third of its kind provided to the Speech and Hearing Centre by Variety WA.  Indigenous children face such extreme hearing problems in Australia that it is considered a pandemic by the World Health Organization.  Approximately 75% of indigenous children have middle ear infection and disease compared to 35% for non-indigenous children.  The goal of the Ear Bus program is to reduce this rate.  Specialists manning the bus provide children with regular screening, education and referrals for medical intervention. When this program started, 41% of aboriginal children in schools could not pass a routine hearing screen. Preliminary results for the start of 2010 suggest a fairly dramatic 12% improvement from this time last year.  This is encouraging evidence that the Variety Ear Bus is working!  "By improving hearing, we are helping indigenous kids perform and learn better at school, which increases their employment opportunities and thus has a lifelong impact."  The 3rd Ear Bus will focus on visits to more than 1300 indigenous children living in the southern metropolitan suburbs of Perth.   Nice work Western Australia team!

Before we highlight who Jack is to Variety, we couldn't pass up this chance to provide a dictionary definition of what we heard when compiling information on Jack.  Defn: a "Do-er", always volunteering, amazing, 1^st class gentleman, Chairman of Variety Australia, giving since he was a child, a nice bloke.  And truly, as we found when profiling him, a mention of his name brings smiles to people's faces (and emails.)   

Jack Cannons is currently the National Chairman and Director of Variety Australia.  You know, that fun-loving group we mentioned in the Events section.  That all seems to blend together as we learned that Jack was introduced to Variety in 1989 and shortly thereafter discovered the crazy world of the Variety Bash (we hope you read the November newsletter when we described the BASH) which he has since participated in as an entrant 27 times in many States of Australia.  The picture of one of his Bash cars seems to put this all in perspective. 

In 1994, Jack Cannons AM was appointed a Director of Variety - The Children's Charity for Tent 56 NSW (New South Wales), was Bash Chairman in 2002 and then served as the Chief Barker (Chairman) of Tent 56 from 2003-2006.  He was also the Chairman of the Variety Australia McHappy Committee for 3 years.

In 2006 Jack was appointed as Deputy Chairman of the Variety Australia National Board and in 2009 was appointed National Chairman, a role he is still serving and is extremely passionate about.  But don't stop there, Jack also serves on the Variety International Board as Chair of Sunshine Coaches for over 6 years and Chairman of the Operations Committee for 4 years, and is a member of the Variety International Outreach Program.  And these positions just outline his involvement and dedication to Variety, the Children's Charity. 

Jack Cannons' decades of service to many protective and charitable organizations have touched the young and old throughout his neighbourhood, country and worldwide.  And not just as a figure-head.  Jack is known for the art of "rolling-up his sleeves and getting the work done."  He doesn't ask without giving; he's a role-model to all.  We spotlight Jack to recognize him for all he gives to Variety and to inspire others.  To those who have had the honour to meet Jack Cannons, your lives have been touched.  To those who have not had the privilege, here's another reason to attend the Variety Worldwide Conference in May and be inspired, motivated, touched.

Some input from some of Jack's admirers:

"In the almost 35 yrs that I've been involved with Variety, I've seen a lot of Chief Barkers come and go.  Some have been wonderful, some less so, but Jack Cannons was one of the wonderful ones.  He brought tremendous energy and enthusiasm to Variety, not only as Chief Barker, but since then in various roles, both within Australian Variety and Internationally.

My greatest delight in Jack's work has been his enthusiasm for remembering that Variety is a Show Business based organisation, something that has been ignored from time to time during our existence in Australia.

Apart from all that, he's a nice bloke who likes a good laugh and I'm proud to call him a friend".   

"Jack is to be admired for his untiring contribution to our Charity. As a long time volunteer he has been an irrepressible force on a local and national level. I am personally delighted that Jack now serves as a Vice President on the Variety International Board and that he is responsible for driving the Operations Meetings of Chief Barkers and Executive Directors in our Tents around the World".

Note:  AM = Member of the Order of Australia