There’s still time to be a Goodfellow

It’s easy during the bustle of the holiday season to lose sight of the season’s real meaning — to forget that the spirit of giving should extend beyond the confines of our own family and friends and into the community around us.

The stories of this year’s Goodfellow Fund families are a good reminder.

There’s Elsa and Ernest, parents of two, whose difficult year of job and personal loss left them struggling to make ends meet.

There’s Adriana, a single mother of four, who gets little financial help from her ex-husband.

And there’s Sandra, who is working toward her degree while raising two children on her own.

All of these families have already received a $50 J.C. Penn e y gift card to buy new clothes and shoes for each eligible school-age child.

Catholic Charities Fort Worth, partnering with the Goodfellow Fund, has distributed 14,167 gift cards to 6,339 Tarrant County families who qualified through interviews and records. (We are very grateful for the small army of Catholic Charities volunteers who have contributed more than 1,500 hours.)

As you consider the many good charities reaching out for help this season, we hope you’ll take a look at the Goodfellow Fund which knows there are children in our community who need our love and support.

For more than a century, the charity has helped Tarrant County families with limited resources provide practical holiday gifts for schoolchildren.

All of this is possible because of the generosity of donors — both large and small — who have responded to the needs of our community.

Thanks to help from Dallas Cowboys legend Roger Staubach, the Exchange Club of Fort Worth raised a record $210,000 from civic leaders and businessmen for the Goodfellow Fund during its 82nd annual holiday charity luncheon.

That brings the fundraising total to date to $560,000. That’s impressive but we still have some work to do to raise the $800,000 needed to cover this year’s gifts.

The Goodfellow Fund’s executive director, Richard Greene of Fort Worth, says that historically, donations come in larger and faster the closer it gets to Christmas and we’re confident we can reach our goal.

There is still plenty of time to donate before the big day and giving continues with year-end gifts after the holiday.

Many contributors send Goodfellows gifts year after year. We’re very grateful.

Now we’d love to encourage the next generation of Tarrant County residents to help out.

If 500 new donors each send $50, that’s 500 more schoolchildren who’ll get new school clothes and shoes.

You can help spread the spirit by sending a contribution to Goodfellows, Box 1870, Fort Worth TX 76101. Or go online to goodfellowfund.org.

This story was originally published December 17, 2017 at 6:46 PM with the headline "There’s still time to be a Goodfellow."