COVID nixed in-person Christmas lunch, but Good Fellows raises $1M for those in need
Despite the pandemic canceling their 104th annual in-person Christmas lunch, members of Charlotte’s Good Fellows Club on Wednesday met their $1 million goal to help local working families in need.
“We don’t have the energy we’ve had in the Crown Ballroom, but I feel we’ll meet the million dollars,” Good Fellows president Richard “Stick” Williams told his virtual audience near the end of the hourlong gathering.
And just as Williams made the remark, the online donation ticker hit and then nudged past $1 million — the fourth time the club has raised that much at the annual event.
The club’s 1,900 members typically put their dollars in buckets as they gather for good-natured jokes and lunch in the Crown Ballroom of the Charlotte Convention Center.
But the only moment of levity Wednesday came when former Gov. and Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory did a “stick-up” of two Good Fellows leaders.
“I’m Pat,” he said. “I’ve been the bag boy for Good Fellows for over 20 years. Now’s the time for all of Charlotte to step up ... You may have forgotten me, but you have never forgotten the people in need.”
In video interviews at the gathering, club members said the need this year is greater than ever because of COVID-19.
Good Fellows donations assist hundreds of working families throughout the year with rent and housing payments through such nonprofit partners as Crisis Assistance Ministry.
Carol Hardison, Crisis Assistance Ministry CEO, thanked the club at the virtual event. “Y’all dig deep, and I see the impact every day,” Hardison said. “And 2021 will be like never before.”
Over the past year, 1,169 families “were saved from homelessness” thanks to Good Fellows, she said.
Over nine years, direct assistance by Good Fellows to families through such agencies has totaled $6.5 million, Williams said.
A group of men from Second Presbyterian Church in Charlotte founded the club in 1917, he said.
As member David Atkins said, Good Fellows mission “is helping someone who’s fallen down.”
They’re working families headed by such parents as Tyesha Van Buren, a disabled veteran who found herself suddenly jobless due to the pandemic.
“I sat on my couch in fear,” Van Buren said in a video interview at the gathering, referring to concerns about affording rent and food before Good Fellows stepped in. “Trying to keep the mental health aspect together was really difficult.”
“Good Fellows has been a blessing,” she said. “We all need help, and there are truly Good Fellows to help.”
Good Friends Charlotte, an all-women’s organization that similarly raises money for families in need, will hold its 34th annual holiday event, a virtual luncheon called “Gather & Give,” at noon Thursday.
Ways to donate
▪ Mail check to The Good Fellows Club, P.O. Box 34708, Charlotte, NC 28234-4708
▪ Text FELLOWS to 44-321
▪ Give online at 2020.GoodFellowsClub.org and on Venmo @good-fellowsclub.
This story was originally published December 9, 2020 at 4:18 PM.