These Goodfellows volunteers help make the holidays better for Tarrant County children
Anyone who has ever worked in a charitable organization knows volunteers are the wheels that keep it moving.
This includes the Goodfelows Fund, the Star-Telegram charity that is once again helping to make the holidays better for children in need throughout Tarrant County. With the aid of their many volunteers, the organization is once again providing a $50 tax-free gift certificate for each child for new clothing from Old Navy Stores.
The goal is to serve 12,000 children. To do that requires a lot of work and a lot of people with big hearts, such as longtime volunteers and now staff members Brenda Smith and Heidi Brisson.
“There are two things that stand out (about being involved). One is the satisfaction of being able to help those in need and seeing the gratitude in the eyes of the recipients. But the other is the relationship with the other volunteers,” said Smith, who has been a volunteer since 2012. “It is almost like a family. Such a fun, caring group that always shows up when we need them. They never let us down, even on short notice. We know each other’s life stories, our kids, our spouses, etc. And there is laughter every day.”
Smith retired a decade ago and, like many new retirees, was looking for volunteer opportunities.
“I opened the Star-Telegram one morning and saw the ad saying they were looking for volunteers. It was a match!” she said, still excited at the memory.
Brisson has been with Goodfellows for 15 years. She left a recruiting job to start volunteering and, likewise, saw an ad in the Star-Telegram that said Goodfellows needed volunteers.
“That was the start of a very beautiful relationship with The Goodfellows Fund and with Richard (Greene, Goodfellows executive director) and the Star-Telegram,” Brisson said.
Each has performed numerous duties, pretty much anything that needs to be done — and a lot has to be done to make this work year after year. Smith started conducting applicant interviews, which she said is still one of her favorite things.
“I really enjoyed speaking with the applicants and seeing face-to-face how we were helping,” she said. “I currently work at the front check-in table. I still have the opportunity to speak with all of the applicants when they check in, but I don’t have much visibility of them receiving their cards. I miss that.
“I am also in charge of communications with our volunteers. My past experience as a marketing manager helps me out there.”
Brisson started doing administrative work.
“That was very time consuming because none of our program was computerized. We sent out appointment cards and hand wrote all the appointments,” she recalled. “We had a really big day one year and they needed my help interviewing, so I came out from behind the curtain and started doing that job. They needed help with registering and controlling the gift cards so I ended up doing that job too.”
She now has the responsibility of ordering, counting, securing, and giving out the many gift cards that are ordered. Each time she hands one to a volunteer to give to a family following an interview, it’s a new holiday highlight for her.
In fact, she’s even gone out of her way to make sure families get them in time for the holidays.
“I have even driven some to a school counselor, at the school, for a family who couldn’t pick them up because they were mourning the loss of the father. We have given them to a Catholic Charities representative who picks them up for families that can’t get to us because they’re working during the day,” she said.
But, of course, the greatest feeling of all is when she gets to see the faces of the receiving families light up, knowing someone cares enough to help them during what can be the hardest of times. Holidays with no one to care can be lonely and cold.
“I get to watch the faces of the applicants when the volunteer gives them the cards and I always smile,” she said. “I truly love this organization and everyone involved. It’s that little something that we can give to families that might be struggling, and frankly, I believe I get more out of it than they do.”
Both have many memorable stories. For example, Smith noted that over the years she has realized many grandmothers are raising their grandchildren and how they are always so appreciative for the help. Also, a number of former Goodfellows recipients have reached out and now want to volunteer.
“We had an applicant that we helped this season who had missed her appointment but we were able to help. This happens often but she was particularly thankful that she didn’t lose her opportunity to receive cards. She left and came back five minutes later with a box of cookies she wanted to give the volunteers for taking extra time to help her,” Smith said.
“And my favorite memory this year, a woman came in and after receiving her cards, came to the check-in desk with a question. We happened to be at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church that day. She said she had been away from any church for over 20 years and asked if we would be willing for her to come to church there. We assured her we were certain they would welcome her there and pointed her to the office. That made my heart swell.”
Brisson also has a pair of her own favorite stories.
“Once I had a lady I was interviewing, and I told her I loved the colorful bandanna she was wearing. She proceeded to tell me that she was a single mother who had terminal cancer and she was wearing it because she had lost her hair,” Brisson said. “She was going through this terrible time, and yet she was laughing with me and so very grateful for the gift cards for the two or three young children she was going to leave behind. She allowed me to give her a hug, and once she left, I broke down for 10-15 minutes.”
The other story involved a volunteer who was conducting an interview with an applicant who could not stop crying. Her husband had just been deported to Mexico and she was left here to care for her family without him.
“Thankfully, we were conducting the interviews at Catholic Charities and I also volunteered as the administrative assistant in their counseling department, so we were able to refer her to them and get her some additional assistance,” she said.
The best feeling about being involved always comes back to the reason they joined up in the first place, they both agreed - the giving. They know we are helping people, even if it’s just for a short while, and who knows what can happen after that? After all, a step at a time in the right direction can ultimately lead to a better life.
“There is a lot of goodness out there for those in need,” Smith said.
About the Goodfellows Fund
The story on the Goodfellows website describes its beginning as an offshoot of the first newspaper charity drive in the United States, started by the Chicago Tribune on Dec. 10, 1909. A Chicago city attorney wrote a letter challenging his friends to donate the money they would have spent on holiday partying to charity.
A couple years later, the Advertising Club of Fort Worth staged the first local Goodfellows campaign. On the day after Thanksgiving in 1912, Publisher Amon G. Carter brought the tradition to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
To find out more, visit To apply, visit goodfellowfundfw.com. The new post office box for donations and correspondence is PO Box 149, Fort Worth, TX. 76101.