Friday, April 20, 2012

Jordin sparks at CAREAOKE night...

 CNN Team with Dana Bash and Gloria Borger

by senior contributor Brendan Kownacki
Photo credit: Neshan H. Naltchayan

American Idol winner and recording artist Jordin Sparks set the tone for the CAREaoke night at The Ronald Reagan Building.

The event raises money for Childhelp founded in 1959 for the prevention and treatment of child abuse.


Yvonne (left) and Sara - 1959
Hollywood actresses Sara Buckner (O’Meara) and Yvonne Lime (Fedderson) first met on the set of The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, when they played the girlfriends of Ricky and David Nelson. Their mission for children began in 1959 when they were sent on a government-sponsored goodwill tour to visit troops in Japan.

What that they didn’t know then was that this was the beginning of a lifetime commitment to children.


WJLA's Rebecca Cooper and Wes Johnson of the Washington Capitals were emcees for the event that brought out a slew of media folks and some shouldn't give up their day jobs.  Brianna Kahane, the 10 year child prodigy violinist who kicked off the event, should keep hers though. 

For some local media folks, they might have hoped that nobody was listening when they took the stage, but that was hardly the case.

Delegations from print, broadcast and online all hit the stage with their signature tunes, trying to entertain the crowd for a good cause.  94.7 Fresh FM's Tommy McFly lead the morning show team in a special performance of "Love Shack".  McFly, who last year 'treated' the crowd to Billy Joel's "We didn't Start The Fire" said "Playing the hits is exponentially easier than ... singing the hits!  We found that out the hard way, but Kelly, Jen and I had a blast belting it out."

The event, started more than six years ago by WJLA's Rebecca Cooper has raised hundreds of thousands to benefit children--all the while challenging media to take the stage and sing their hearts our. "ChildHelp" does such significant work advocating for our little neighbors who don't always have a voice.  We're already practicing for next year!" McFly added. 

We'll start practicing our scales...

Come on in for some fun: