Fleeing the Taliban, they found refuge in the U.S. Now they need help from Goodfellows
Abdullah and his family found refuge in America after being driven out of their home country of Afghanistan by the Taliban. While they are now safe, they also have many more challenges compounded by having to adjust to life in a new country while missing their beloved homeland.
Their journey took them to Pakistan for 10 months, then to Brazil and through a total of nine nations in all before they reached the United States legally through Mexico via Customs and Border Protection in September.
“We saw a lot of problems. Some days we ate a simple meal one time,” he said. “My children were very sick because they lost their body energy because of lack of food.
“During this trip we had to throw away our clothes.”
They now live with family in Fort Worth, but it is a small house. Abdullah’s family is large, with five children.
“We have not any other choice,” he said. “Now we are waiting for an appointment so that our immigration process can start, and after that we can work and solve our problems.”
In the meantime, he would love for his children to feel some joy this holiday season. So he reached out to the Goodfellow Fund.
“I respectfully ask you, please, to help me and my family as much as you can,” he said.
The Goodfellow Fund can certainly bring some happiness to the children. They’ve specialized in this mission for well over a century and this year they have a goal of helping 13,000 children from families in need in Tarrant County. This holiday season they are providing a $50 tax-free gift certificate for each child for new clothing from Old Navy.
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.