History of Goodfellows
"The Christmas season is at hand. Let us link our hands in warm friendship. Let us seek out the less blessed. Let us be ‘Goodfellows.’ Let us plant the seeds of cheer where cheer has not grown before. You are needed and blessings await all who answer. Be with us.”
In December, 1909, The Chicago Daily Tribune received a letter from one of its readers who asked that his letter be printed in the publication without disclosing his identity. The original Goodfellow is still anonymous, but his letter initiated a movement that aims to give thousands of children in need a brighter holiday.
The letter reads…
To the Good Fellows of Chicago:
CHICAGO DAILY TRIBUNE | DECEMBER 10, 1909
Last Christmas and New Years’ eve you and I went out for a good time and spent from $10 to $200. Last Christmas morning over 5,000 children awoke to an empty stocking—the bitter pain of disappointment that Santa Claus had forgotten them. Perhaps it wasn’t our fault. We had provided for our own; we had also reflected in a passing way on those less fortunate than our own, but they seemed far off and we didn’t know where to find them. Perhaps in the hundred and one things we had to do some of us didn’t think of that heart sorrow of the child over the empty stocking.
...
...
...Now, old man, here’s a chance. I have tried it for the last five years and ask you to consider it. Just send your name and address to The Tribune—address Santa Claus—state about how many children you are willing to protect against grief over that empty stocking, inclose a two-cent stamp and you will be furnished with the names, addresses, sex, and age of that many children. It is then up to you, you do the rest. Select your own present, spend 50 cents or $50, and send or take your gifts to those children on Christmas eve. You pay not a cent more than you want to pay—every cent goes just where you want it to go. You gain neither notoriety nor advertising; you deal with no organization; no record will be kept; your letter will be returned to you with its answer. The whole plan is just as anonymous as old Santa Claus himself.
This is not a newspaper scheme. The Tribune was asked to aid in reaching the good fellows by publishing this suggestion and to receive your communication in order that you may be assured of good faith and to preserve the anonymous character of this work. The identity of the writer of this appeal will not be disclosed. He assumes the responsibility of finding the children and sending you their names and guarantees that whatever you bestow will be deserved.
Neither you nor I get anything out of this, except the feeling that you have saved some child from sorrow on Christmas morning. If that is not enough for you then you have wasted time in reading this—it is not intended for you, but for the good fellows of Chicago.
Perhaps a twenty-five cent doll or a ten cent tin toy wouldn’t mean much to the children you know, but to the child who would find them in the otherwise empty stocking they mean much—the difference between utter disappointment and the joy that Santa Claus did not forget them. Here is where you and I get in. The charitable organizations attend to the bread and meat; the clothes; the necessaries; you and the rest of the good fellows furnish the toys, the nuts, the candies; the child’s real Christmas.
“Neither you nor I get anything out of this, except the feeling that you have saved some child from sorrow on Christmas morning. If that is not enough for you then you have wasted time in reading this — it is not intended for you, but for the good fellows of Chicago.”
The Tribune has investigated the “good fellow” who wrote the above, has looked him in the eye and put its O.K. on the plan. The cold blooded reporter who saw him said:
“He made me feel, personally, that it would be really worth while in satisfaction to carry a little happiness to some children who otherwise wouldn’t get any on Christmas eve.”
“Good Fellow” is not a professional philanthropist, he takes a drink, cusses a bit, and even goes out at night with boys for a mild good time—but he has taken care from fifteen to twenty children a year in Chicago.”
He said that last Christmas day he wished he had curtailed his holiday joy-making with good fellows of various organizations who work in poverty stricken districts and others who come in contact with those whom we always have with us. Lists of worthy cases will be welcomed form such organizations as the Visiting Nurses Association, the Relief and Aid Society and churches of all denominations. These lists should be verified and certified to by the officers of the organization submitting them and should be arranged by wards and divisions of the city.
This is how you can join the lodge of Good Fellows. Write a letter to “Santa Claus” care of The Tribune, something like this: