Monroe County History: Goodfellows project has rich history in Monroe

Tom Adamich
·3 min read
Members of the Monroe Exchange Club’s Old Newsboys project was a Goodfellow project that started in 1932. The Monroe Knights of Columbus #1266 joined the Exchange Club in selling newspapers during the holidays in 1956.
Members of the Monroe Exchange Club’s Old Newsboys project was a Goodfellow project that started in 1932. The Monroe Knights of Columbus #1266 joined the Exchange Club in selling newspapers during the holidays in 1956.
Jay Jondro (right) of the Monroe Knights of Columbus #1266, and Matthew Hehl of Calkins, Hehl, and Rafko CPAs (representing the Monroe Exchange Club), have led past Monroe Goodfellow sales. Christmas charity traditions related to the event began in the 1910's and during the Great Depression.
Jay Jondro (right) of the Monroe Knights of Columbus #1266, and Matthew Hehl of Calkins, Hehl, and Rafko CPAs (representing the Monroe Exchange Club), have led past Monroe Goodfellow sales. Christmas charity traditions related to the event began in the 1910's and during the Great Depression.
This is an image of the Chicago Tribune from December 10, 1909 which included the first Goodfellow article encouraging people to help poor children at Christmastime. Many say the article prompted other Goodfellow projects to be launched nationwide in the 1910's, including Monroe’s in 1914.
This is an image of the Chicago Tribune from December 10, 1909 which included the first Goodfellow article encouraging people to help poor children at Christmastime. Many say the article prompted other Goodfellow projects to be launched nationwide in the 1910's, including Monroe’s in 1914.

Many in Monroe look forward to the longtime Christmas tradition of purchasing copies of the Monroe Goodfellow Paper to benefit the Goodfellow project in Monroe.

The paper drive is a partnership between the Monroe Exchange Club and Monroe Council #1266 Knights of Columbus.  The rich history of this drive to help the needy in our area (also included is a separate food drive) has both a local and national connection.

According to the “The First Fifty Years of Monroe Council #1266 1907-1957” written by Joseph A. DeSloover, the Council’s historian, the Monroe Goodfellow project began in 1914 when local Monroe Knights of Columbus member Alfred Maurer suggested the formation of the Goodfellow group to create Christmas baskets for Monroe's poor.  It was prompted by both a continuation of a Monroe-based effort to help the needy (started in 1911 but abandoned) and, most likely, by the launch of Goodfellow projects nationwide.   Nearly 51 food baskets were packed and delivered on Christmas morning, 1915.

Monroe was, again, part of a national movement to establish local Goodfellow projects nationwide.  The catalyst for those projects was an article that appeared in the December 10, 1909 edition of the Chicago Tribune.

The article, written anonymously, encouraged Chicagoans help the needy during the 1909 Christmas season.  Here is a portion of the text: “Last Christmas and New Year’s 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.”

The article continues, ““Now, old man, here’s a chance. … 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, in close 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."

The article also prompted an early filmmaker, the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company, to create a film patterned after the popular holiday story, “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens.  The lead character is Grouch, whose change of heart after reading a newspaper account of the activities of the ‘good fellows’ and dreaming fondly of a Christmas past resonated with early viewers.  The Essanay Film Manufacturing Company, from 1907 to 1917 made nearly 2,000 silent films that were shown at emerging movie houses across the U.S.

Many say it was the Essanay Goodfellow film that prompted organizations like Monroe Council #1266 Knights of Columbus to start their own Goodfellow project, again, in 1914, at the November 23, 1914 meeting (the club was officially launched on October 6, 1907).  Frank Sturn was the first treasurer of the Monroe Council #1266 Knights of Columbus Goodfellow project.  Henry Steiner was elected treasurer to succeed Sturn in 1918 and proceeded to hold the position of treasurer until his death in 1956.

In 1933, the project Monroe Council #1266 Knights of Columbus Goodfellow project benefitted from its first newspaper sale – the result of the Monroe Exchange Club founding the “Old Newsboys” a year earlier, in 1932, and selling editions of the Monroe Evening News -- with half of the proceeds going to the Monroe Council #1266, Knights of Columbus Goodfellow project.  The Monroe Council #1266 Knights of Columbus joined the Monroe Exchange Club in selling the Goodfellow newspapers in 1956 -- a tradition that continues today.

Tom Adamich is president of Visiting Librarian Service, a firm he has operated since 1993. He also is project archivist for the Greening Nursery Co. and Family Archives.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Monroe County History: Goodfellows project has rich history in Monroe