Childhelp Commemorates Longtime Champion Betty White on 97th Birthday
PHOENIX (PRWEB) January 17, 2019 -- Happy birthday to Betty White! She may look small, but she’s a giant Childhelp champion and isn’t letting up in her 97th year - helping us mark our 60th Anniversary year.
“As we all celebrate Betty’s 97th birthday, it is also a great day to celebrate the decades Betty has been busy giving back,” notes Childhelp co-founder and CEO Sara O’Meara. “Childhelp has been so blessed to have her as a friend and advocate.”
Childhelp began in 1959 when co-founders Sara O’Meara and Yvonne Fedderson were young Hollywood actresses sent to Japan to entertain US troops during the Korean War. But the young women found themselves on the flooded streets of Tokyo during a typhoon, rescuing orphans stranded by the storm. When California First Lady Nancy Reagan asked them to focus on child abuse in the United States, the two founders began a journey that has spanned six decades, with more than 10 million children served.
“These are children who need all of us to advocate for them,” notes Yvonne Fedderson, co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Childhelp. “For a celebrity beloved by young and old across the country to give so much of her time and compassion over the years to victims of child abuse means lives are being saved and hearts are being healed.”
One memorable Betty White role was on the court with Shaquille O’Neal in 2016 when she teamed up with Shaq and the band Buckcherry to shoot a public service announcement for Childhelp. (https://www.childhelp.org/blog/shaquille-oneal-betty-white-team-end-child-abuse/)
Yvonne’s late husband Don Fedderson was a local television station manager when he recognized White’s star appeal as a young actress on the show HOLLYWOOD ON TELEVISION. Fedderson told White she should expand the act in to a half hour sitcom - and a star was born. White, Fedderson and writer George Tibbles formed the company Bandy Productions, creating LIFE WITH ELIZABETH with Betty as the show’s title character. After Don’s passing, Yvonne continues to manage the rights of THE BETTY WHITE SHOW and other hits created by what became Don Fedderson Productions.
Childhelp founders Sara O’Meara and Yvonne Fedderson say Betty has never given up hope as she fights for children in need - and proves her staying power. “Anyone underestimating Betty White has learned over the decades that there is nothing she can’t do.”
So what do you give a woman who already has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is one of the most celebrated actresses in the world? The best thing we can give Betty White on her 97th birthday is a big thank you on behalf of all the children she has fought tirelessly on behalf of for so many years.
Media interested in speaking with Childhelp co-founders Sara O’Meara and Yvonne Fedderson about Childhelp’s dear friend Betty White and her legacy of giving may contact Daphne Young at 480-922-8212.
Childhelp is the nation's leading nonprofit helping victims of child abuse through intervention, treatment and prevention. http://www.childhelp.org
Daphne Young, Childhelp, http://www.childhelp.org, 480-922-8212, [email protected]
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