Single dad with cancer wants hopes Goodfellows can bring joy to his 4 children

The Goodfellow Fund provides $100 gift cards to low-income families.

Lupe is a single father with four children.

He was diagnosed with stage 4 throat cancer in August of 2023.

“I made some bad choices in my life, but all I want now is to be able to give my children a nice Christmas,” he said.

Lupe and his children live with his retired parents. He receives Social Security benefits.

The Goodfellow Fund wants to help bring joy to children such as Lupe’s and has been doing this for more than a century. This holiday season they’ve doubled the amount of assistance to help offset the rising costs in society.

They are giving away a $100 gift card to Old Navy stores for clothing for children. It’s twice the amount of gift cards in the past.

“I am praying for nothing but good things in 2025, but I want to end my 2024 with my children smiling,” Lupe 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.