How to pass variables between theme functions
I am newish to Drupal, but will give this a shot (I'm sure someone will tell me if I am wrong). 

You can set variables that exist in different contexts by using the template.php file of your theme by adding stuff to the $variables array with preprocessor functions. So you could maybe add your variables to the YOURTHEME_preprocess_html() function, which should make them available everywhere. 

function YOURTHEME_preprocess_html(&amp;$variables, $hook) {
  $variables['sample_variable'] = t('Lorem ipsum.');
}