Goodfellows is back, providing clothes and shoes to children. Here’s how to apply for help
For well over a century the Goodfellow Fund has been helping children from families in need have a happier holiday season, and they’re back at it again this year.
If you are in such a family, there is still time to request aid, but you’d better hurry, said Goodfellows Executive Director Richard Greene. The deadline is Nov. 17.
“You still have time to apply, but not much time,” Greene stressed. “We certainly want to serve more Tarrant County schoolchildren. I’d love to see 1,000 applications come in on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.”
So, don’t hesitate.
Once again, the program is offering a $50 tax-free gift certificate for each child for new trendy clothing to Old Navy Stores.
New clothes often provide positivity and confidence. Often, children from families in need feel left out when their classmates show up to school in the latest popular clothing.
And, new and warm clothes and shoes can mean the difference between a cold and frigid winter and feeling warm.
The goal is to serve 12,000 children, which the program was able to do in 2018 and 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
In 2020, because of COVID protocols in place, Goodfellows altered its giving plan and partnered with the Tarrant County Food Bank to provide a holiday meal to 5,000 Tarrant County families.
Many volunteers will be conducting qualifying interviews through the last week of November. To apply, visit goodfellowfundfw.com/apply. Applicants will need the following:
Driver’s license number, state or country ID, alien ID, or I-94 card.
Proof of residence in Tarrant County. The current address of your home or apartment. Your qualifying letter will be sent to this address. Please enter it carefully.
Proof of income for entire family. This includes any of the following that apply to you and/or members of your family: Your prior year’s income tax or IRS tax form 1040, or paycheck stubs, or a letter from your employer stating your salary or your current award letter(s) from TANF, SNAP food stamps, unemployment, child support, SSI/SSDI, and/or documentation of any other additional income/benefits you currently receive. Total family income must be less than 125% of the federal poverty income guidelines.
Child’s age. There must be at least one child in the household between the ages of 4 and 16 who is attending a Tarrant County school, born between June 1, 2005 through Sept. 1, 2017.
Enrollment in school. Enter your child’s unique school identification number. This may found on a report card or a dated letter from the school verifying that the child is enrolled. Category of home-school is also acceptable.
Each season the number of requests received for assistance exceeds the amount donated by the community. Applications will be accepted and processed until that limit is reached.
“We began accepting applications in the first week of September. To date we are about 20% behind those received in prior years,” Greene said. “I’m not sure of the reason.”
Greene stressed the Nov. 17 deadline in order to set up appointments in time.
“In December the Volunteers get busy with their own families and holiday plan,.” he said.
Should the applicant have a conflict or emergency issue they can send a family member, friend, neighbor or church associate in their place, Greene said. They just need to bring the applicant’s identification and the support documents required for verification.
Going forward, the new post office box for donations and correspondence is P.O. Box 149, Fort Worth, TX. 76101.
About the Goodfellow Fund
The story on the Goodfellows web site 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 of years later, the Advertising Club of Fort Worth staged the first local Goodfellows campaign. On the day after Thanksgiving in 1912, Publisher Amon G. Carter brought the tradition to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
