Goodfellow Fund’s ‘sole’ mission: shoes, clothes
Have you ever imagined while lacing up your shoes or sliding on your sweater what life would be like without them?
Some among us may not have to imagine it.
This is the plight, these are the deserving young ones, that the Star-Telegram’s holiday Goodfellow Fund is here to help.
A yearly tradition going back to 1912, the Goodfellow Fund this holiday season is again distributing $50 gift cards for shoes and clothes to 12,000 or so underprivileged Tarrant County students between the ages of 4 and 15.
The key word in that last sentence is “distributing.” Though Star-Telegram employees have always pitched in, and have done so again this year, the real Santa Claus in this transaction is our readers and donors. You’re the ones who will end up funding the bulk of the Goodfellow Fund to the tune of nearly three-quarters of a million dollars.
We’d like to say both thank you and please — thank you for the donations already received, and please keep them coming, before and after Christmas: As of late last week, the fund was about $100,000 short of the $746,000 raised last year.
Demand hasn’t slackened, but we’re certain neither has the spirit of giving.
There are so many worthy causes to give to, particularly during the holidays when we fix our most intense gaze on human need. But the Star-Telegram is surely blessed by the 106-year legacy of providing basic necessities to children and youths who need them most. In the early years, the fund provided families with wood and coal to stay warm. Since the Depression, the fund’s sole mission has been shoes and clothes for underprivileged Tarrant County school-age children.
To be without such necessities, especially in winter, is unthinkable.
To raise these funds year-round for more years than most centenarians have been alive takes an entire community. At a luncheon earlier this month, for instance, former Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten witnessed firsthand the Fort Worth Exchange Club, supporters for half a century or more, raise an astounding $260,000 for the Goodfellow Fund.
Haslet resident Roger Latham writes on these pages today of the time some 40 years ago that he played Santa Claus for a family in need, delivering presents in full view of his own impressionable young children. It’s so much easier today. Although mailed donations are always welcome (The Goodfellow Fund, P.O. Box 1870, Fort Worth, Texas, 76101), contributions by card are quick and easy and secure at www.goodfellowfund.org.
Donors want to know their gifts are in good hands and that they make a difference. The Goodfellow Fund process makes certain 100 percent of each dollar goes straight to shoes and clothes for Tarrant County students in need.
How can you be sure they’re really in need? You don’t need to be, because the Goodfellow Fund goes to great lengths to make certain: Starting in early November, a team of over 100 volunteers scheduled through Catholic Charities of Fort Worth interviewed all applicants — in this case, over 2,000 hours’ worth — to assure they meet eligibility criteria. Applicants must provide proof of identity, residency, income, child’s age and school registration.
It’s easier to board an airliner.
The Goodfellow Fund needs your help, because so many of our neighbors do. And helping our neighbors is a tradition in these parts.
Let’s keep the tradition going.