Goodfellow Fund helps Fort Worth mom battling health issues provide gifts for kids

Savannah’s kids are smart. Three girls, ages 9, 12 and 14, and an 8-year-old boy are on the A and B honor rolls at their schools.

But Savannah doesn’t need report cards to know how bright they’re turning out. She sees it in how they react to their circumstances — doing chores in their subsidized housing unit near downtown Fort Worth because their mom has complications from diabetes that include losing sight in one eye; doing without nice things because Savannah hasn’t been able to work since her car died; maybe being missed by Santa, again.

“My kids are great,” Savannah said. “They don’t complain about anything. They understand that if I can’t, I can’t.”

This year, thanks to the Goodfellow Fund, Savannah can. She received a $50 J.C. Penney gift card for each of her children to use only for clothes and shoes. That’s exactly what they needed.

“We went when J. C. Penney was having a really good sale,” she said. “I got two pairs of jeans and two shirts for each of them. For my two youngest, I was able to get an extra outfit each.

“The jeans are for school, but I didn’t get uniform shirts to go with them. They wanted shirts like Fortnite, Spiderman and Nuruto. I thought, ‘They won’t have that.’ Then I saw ‘Yes they do and it’s on sale!’”

Savannah hopes her situation improves soon. She’s trying to save up enough money to get a car so she can “find a job and go to work.”

Be a jolly Goodfellow

Since 1912, the Star-Telegram’s Goodfellow Fund has provided practical gifts for schoolchildren. Join this tradition by visiting goodfellowfundfw.com to make a secure credit card donation.

This story was originally published November 28, 2019 at 6:00 AM.