‘I do the best I can,’ single mom says, asking Goodfellow Fund to help her 2 kids
Angela grew up wishing to be reunited with her mother every Christmas and birthday — which happen to be on the same day. While she realizes today that her mother did what she thought was best for her, leaving her to be raised by her grandmother, there is not a Christmas that goes by without Angela missing her greatly.
Now, Angela finds herself in a challenging position as a single parent, but determined to raise her 6-year-old daughter Nicole and 12-year-old son Juan. She left her husband and an abusive relationship, and while they are safe now, life is hard.
“I do the best I can, if it is from the heart to give me something for my children, I thank you with all my heart,” Angela wrote in a letter to the Goodfellow Fund.
And that is exactly what the Goodfellow Fund does each year and has been doing for more than a century. This year they are providing children from families such as Angela’s with $100 gift cards for clothing at Old Navy stores, an increase from the $50 in past years so as to deal with rising costs.
“My son Juan plays soccer and my daughter wants to be a dancer and a veterinarian,” she said.
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.
New and additional donors are welcome and needed to help cover the cost of doubling the gift card amount.
New and additional donors are welcome and needed to help cover the cost of doubling the gift card amount.