Bills pile up for widow, a mother of 5, who asks Goodfellows for help at Christmas
Life has been hard on Kendra in recent years. Seven years ago she became widowed and lost a newborn son, leaving her to raise five children also feeling the absence of their dad and baby brother.
Though she was gainfully employed as nurse’s aid, the challenges grew greater more recently. Late last year she was forced to have surgery on her neck in October and her back in late December.
“There has been significant improvement and mobility again, but I am still having a lot of issues coping with recovery, and depression has set in,” she wrote in a letter to the Goodfellow Fund.
As if that wasn’t enough, a car she was in was hit from behind, which further limited her capability to move.
All the while, the bills have continued to arrive and, of course, the children need tending to.
The Goodfellow Fund can still help Kendra’s children have a nice holiday season, just as the Star-Telegram charity has been doing since the early 1900s. This year they are providing children from underprivileged families with $100 gift cards so youngsters can get clothing at Old Navy stores. The amount has doubled from previous years to accommodate the rising costs of goods.
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.
This story was originally published December 10, 2024 at 12:57 PM.