Applications available for Goodfellows food baskets

Members of the community joined together last year to put together over 400 boxes of food for local families in the annual Dr. William F. Pierce Jr.-Goodfellows food-box distribution program. The Dyersburg Kiwanis Club is currently taking applications for this year's program, with an application deadline set for Thursday, Dec. 3. Boxes will be packed in the Family Life Building at the Dyer County Fairgrounds on Monday, Dec. 21, with distribution set for Tuesday, Dec. 22 by employees of the Dyer County Highway and Dyersburg Street departments.

The Dyersburg Kiwanis Club is currently collecting applications and donations for the annual Dr. William F. Pierce Jr.-Goodfellows food-box distribution program.

The initiative, which has provided food baskets to families in need for over six decades, has been led by the Dyersburg Kiwanis Club since 1945. But organizers say that the project relies on the entire community.

"(Goodfellows is) a big load carried by many hands," said Kiwanis member Joe Enoch. "A lot of people making donations, a lot of people put together boxes and a lot of people delivering them. It is a very worthwhile project."

These 'good fellows' were charter members of the original Kiwanis Club who voted to sponsor the Goodfellows food basket program in 1945. From left, front, Thomas Smith Hoover, Milburn Cooper, J.C. Castlelaw, Jason J. Pursell, R.H. Sanderfer, George Bailey, N.O. White, Jimmy Thompson, A.D. Burks, Home Pressler, Hhorace Owens and Willie G. Burks. This year's Goodfellows program will provide Christmas dinner for at least 432 area families.

This year's project will help at least 432 local families who would not have a Christmas meal if not for Goodfellows.

Families are selected through an application process, with organizations like the Dyersburg Union Mission, Matthew 25:40 and the Department of Human Services working together each year to reach the most families throughout the community.

Applications will be taken through Thursday, Dec. 3.

Forms are available at the Dyersburg City Schools Family Resource Center, located in the Jennie Bell building at 607 Lewis St.; the Professional Development Center, located at 305 College St.; from workers with the Dyersburg office of the Department of Human Services; and by clipping the form from The State Gazette.

Kiwanis Club members have already begun phoning residents on their calling lists to solicit donations, but Enoch said that citizens do not have to wait for an invitation to support the cause.

"We need to raise around $20,000," said Kiwanis member Hughes Clardy. "We've always reached it. Sometimes, we've had to go into debt to do it. The baskets are approximately $50 each."

"In a year like this, if we get flooded with requests for boxes, we may try to expand it," said Enoch, who said the difficulty in expanding the project is that it must be expanded by adding a case of food and additional boxes in multiples of 24. "We try not to have any waste."

"In these uncertain economic times, I would anticipate we would have an increase of those in need. We also anticipate raising funds this year might be more difficult," said Clardy. "Most of us can give at least a basket. Most of us can. Some of us can give a whole lot more."

During the assembly, set this year for Monday, Dec. 21, in the Family Life Building at the Dyer County Fairgrounds, volunteers put together over 400 boxes of food in an hour and 15 minutes.

The food will be delivered the next morning, Tuesday, Dec. 22, by employees of the Dyer County Highway Department and the Dyersburg Street Department.

"You'd be amazed how many hands go into a box in an hour and a half," said Enoch.

"It's amazing to see 432 boxes go down that line in (that amount of time). It gives you a taste of what it's like to work on an assembly line."

Volunteers do not have to be Kiwanis members to donate or participate in the assembly.

"It's a good project," said Enoch. "The community has always supported it. We live in a very, very giving community. We really have been blessed by people opening up their hearts and their pocketbooks."

Completed application forms or donations may be mailed to Kiwanis Club of Dyersburg, attn: Goodfellows, P.O. Box 22, Dyersburg, TN 38025.