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