Single mom caring for her mother and brother needs help from Goodfellows

For some folks it seems as if it’s not only the weight of the world on their shoulders, but two or three other planets as well.

Linda is one such person. A single mother of four, two grown children and two ages 8 and 5, she also has her mother — who is on oxygen, can’t see well and has hip and leg injuries — living with her and needing her care.

In addition, her brother, who has stage 4 kidney disease and suffered a stroke earlier this year, also lives with her.

She goes to work every morning at 5 so she can be home as soon as she can to care for her family.

Through it all, she does her best to maintain a positive attitude. However, the challenges of it all, along with a lack of money, can be overwhelming.

She has a two-month-old electric bill that she’s trying to figure out how to pay. The heater core in her car has gone out.

And her children need clothes.

This is where the Goodfellow Fund can help. They’ve been helping children from families in need have some joy during the Christmas holiday for well beyond a century.

The Star-Telegram charity has a goal this year of helping 13,000 children in Tarrant County have a nice Christmas. They are providing a $50 tax-free gift certificate for each child for new clothing from Old Navy.

“I’m just asking for help for my daughters,” Linda said. “They are not picky. My 8-year-old needs pants.”

About the Goodfellow Fund

The story on the Goodfellow 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 Goodfellow 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, or to learn more about helping, visit goodfellowfundfw.com. The post office box for donations and correspondence is P.O. Box 149, Fort Worth, TX. 76101.