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Photography by: G
eoff Reed P
hotographyC
reative Direction &
Retouching by R
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Yvonne Fedderson and Sara O’Meara have been
friends since they met on the set of The Adven-
tures of Ozzie and Harriett over 50 years ago. They
acted together, lived together (along with their late
husbands), and shared a quest to save millions
of abused, neglected and abandoned children.
Theirs is a story of love and commitment, and of
rising to a challenge to right some terrible wrongs.
Their mission for children began in 1959 when
they were sent on a government-sponsored good-
will tour to visit troops in Japan.
A single decision made during that trip created a
wave that would carry them both to their calling in
life. This single decision would be responsible for
saving children worldwide – over 6 million to date.
This single decision would create the organization
that we today know as Childhelp.
“Yvonne and I were warm and safe in our hotel
room in Tokyo, Japan after four days of a severe
typhoon” Sara recalls. “It was one of the worst
the city has ever seen. We had never experienced
such fierce storms in our lives.” For a couple of
those nights, they sat in their hotel room in total
darkness with the high winds pounding at the win-
dows. All power had gone out, and it was a “red
flag” alert.
At the first sign of clearing, and despite hotel staff’s
advice to stay in, Sara and Yvonne bundled them-
selves up and ventured out to explore the storm’s
aftermath. Youthful curiosity would be a savior to
At HomeWith Yvonne Fedderson & Sara O’Meara, founders of
Childhelpby: Rick Rome & Deborah Brown
so many. What Sara and Yvonne found in their lit-
tle adventure was a heartbreaking combination
of devastation on the streets from the storm, and
a group of abandoned children a mile or so into
their forbidden walk.
The children, many barefoot and ranging from two
years of age to 12, were huddled together under
a small awning trying to protect themselves from
the freezing winds. Their knuckles were cracked
and bleeding from the weather. Sara and Yvonne
immediately unbuttoned their coats and beckoned
the children to come to them for warmth. The chil-
dren dove under one by one, the coats ballooning
as all 11 squeezed in. Sara remembers looking
into Yvonne’s eyes as they felt the shivering clus-
ter of children against them. “We didn’t know what
to do to comfort them. We pulled out our English-
to-Japanese dictionary in a desperate effort to
translate and ask them where their parents were.”
Having no luck, all they could think of to say to the
children was, “No papa sans? No mama sans?”
and the children just cried harder. At that moment
Sara and Yvonne knew what they had to do. They
shuffled themselves and the children through the
devastation of the storm back to the hotel room.
They were determined to give the children what
they needed at that moment: a hot meal, warm
dry clothes, and a good night’s sleep. If they were
caught by a military officer or other official, it could
have ended their ability to help these children, so
they made sure they did not get caught. Walking
through the lobby with children under their coats
and frozen smiles on their faces, they made it to
the hotel room and the desperately needed shelter
it provided.
After they made it back to their room, Sara and
Yvonne looked at each other nervously wondering
what to do next. How to order extra food without
raising suspicion was on both their minds! When
the food arrived from the hotel staff, it came with
the necessary number of plates and utensils: 13
plates, 13 glasses, and table settings for 13. The
hotel staff knew exactly what Sara and Yvonne
were up to and the staff participated.
Later Sara and Yvonne decided to approach the
Colonel about the situation. He was very reproach-
ful when he told them how severe a mistake they
had made. He immediately created a list of orphan-
ages that would receive the children.
Unfortunately, the children were rejected at every
turn because they were the product of an American
soldier father and a Japanese mother. Sara and
Yvonne ended up sneaking these children back
into their hotel room, but this time not under their
coats, but rather up the hotel’s back fire escape.
Sara and Yvonne quickly realized that these chil-
dren were not going to be taken in by any of the or-
Sara & Yvonne with children foundabandoned in the streets of Japan (1959)
phanages on the Colonel’s list. This enraged them.
They were there on a U.S.O. tour and they
had to perform. When they end-
ed up on stage once again
they had a gut wrenching
decision to make. “As we
went through the show that
night,” Sara recalls, “Yvonne
and I could hardly concentrate
on our performance. When it
was over, instead of leaving af-
ter our applause, we just stayed
there at center stage. Our hearts
pounded. I don’t remember who
started talking first. But by the time
we were done, we had spoken out about these
children. We pointed out to the soldiers that some
of these children might be their children, and we
begged them to assist these innocent little Amer-
Asian orphans.”
Sara and Yvonne then passed a
hat pleading for assistance. The
two showgirls hit a nerve and
the response was fantastic.
The next morning more than
a dozen soldiers arrived at
the hotel in an army truck,
filled with blankets, C-
rations, and lumber to
help the one orphan-
age that might take these
children in. The original 11 children
turned into over 100 in very short order as word
spread throughout the community.
Sara and Yvonne have spent the past 50 years
overcoming obstacles and roadblocks, helping
children in spite of miles of red tape and bureauc-
racy. They are an amazing team, with an amazing
friendship. They have overcome amazing feats
and accomplished amazing goals. What we have
to question in ourselves is this. Aren’t we all ca-
pable of making a huge difference? Every one of
us has the capability of kindness within us, and if
we all spent just one hour per day trying to help
others, wouldn’t this be a better world?
Sara & Yvonne entertaining
the childre (1959)
Yvonne & Sara with
first arrivals of “Operation
Babylift” out of Vietnam
If all of us could take a moment to reflect, under-
stand that our journey in this life is not a big party
or adventure, how much better would all our lives
be? Sometimes we are not as giving, sharing or
charitable as we can be. But if we could take a
moment to think outside of the box in order to
make a difference, what kind of difference could
we make?
Remember that these two women, two U.S.O. tour
girls, have saved 6+ million children. They used
their Hollywood voices and garnered huge sup-
port and funds from the entertainment community.
They worked diligently to effect change and even
attracted the attention of Nancy Reagan when she
was First Lady of California. At her urging, Sara
and Yvonne turned their attention to “America’s
best kept secret” of child abuse and all the ways
they could help countless innocent victims.
Childhelp now has a hotline, residential treatment
centers and advocacy centers that provide insight
into “best practices” related to child abuse investi-
gation and treatment methods. Two women, a life-
long friendship and a legacy of saving millions of
children. There is a lesson here for all of us. •
Mama Kin receiving the “Woman of the World” award
Yvonne & Sara takingtime to play
Childhelp National Child Abuse Hot-line: 1-800-4-A-CHILD
To find out more about Childhelp or to contribute please visit:
www.childhelp.org