Yahoo Finance Good Fellows raises record haul for families as club brings back in-person luncheon
A year after COVID-19 prevented the Good Fellows Club from gathering for their annual Christmas luncheon, the group returned to the Charlotte Convention Center on Wednesday and raised the most money ever in the nonprofit’s 100-plus-year history.
The club’s more than 1,800 members raised almost $1.57 million, breaking the previous record of $1.1 million set last year in a virtual luncheon.
“Good Fellows, welcome back,” club president Richard “Stick” Williams said during the luncheon. “What an absolutely wonderful sight, I never could’ve imagined this last year and most of this year.”
All donations from the luncheon will go toward providing emergency financial assistance to families in need.
Notable Charlotteans in attendance included Mayor Vi Lyles, businessman and former club president Mac Everett, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Chief Johnny Jennings and Mecklenburg Sheriff Garry McFadden.
The club was founded in 1917 by congregants of the Second Presbyterian Church.
Kris Fetter, CEO and chairman of Faison Enterprises, said the vision of company founder and Charlotte native Henry J. Faison was for his home city to be “world class.” Faison died in 2012.
COVID nixed in-person Christmas lunch, but Good Fellows raises $1M for those in need
“With growth comes challenges in our community; displacement, homelessness, mental health,” Fetter said. “Good Fellows addresses these challenges impacting our city.”
The Bissell family, responsible for Charlotte-based Bissell Companies Inc., challenged the Good Fellows. If the club could increase the number of members giving $25,000, then they would match, Williams said. Eight members took on the challenge.
“Every year I seem to sorely underestimate the generosity of folks in our community,” Williams said.
Good Friends Charlotte, an all-women’s organization with about 1,800 members, will host its 35th annual Gather and Give event at noon Thursday. Members can give at the convention center or virtually. Good Friends raised over $600,000 during its virtual event last year, surpassing the club’s 2019 total.
Amid pandemic, these Charlotte women raised ‘well over’ $500K for families in need
Good Fellows helps families
Malcolmb Coley, Charlotte managing partner at EY, and George Dewey IV, president and CEO of Aston Properties, visited families the club helped this year.
Dewey followed Christina Staton and her 5-year-old son, Tristan, at their three-room apartment.
During the pandemic, Staton took virtual nursing classes at home, Dewey said. When Staton started clinical work for her degree, she cut some of her regular work hours. Then the bills began to pile up, he said.
It got to the point where Staton and her husband couldn’t pay their rent, and she had one final tuition installment to pay, Dewey said. Good Fellows helped and now Staton and her family are moving into a larger apartment. She recently started working as a registered nurse at Atrium Health, Dewey said.
Coley said he met Angelica Lindsey and her “two beautiful and cheerful daughters.” Lindsey’s “infectious smile and spirit” touched Coley deeply, he said.
Lindsey, who is originally from South Carolina, ended up homeless in North Carolina after many months of bouncing around with her kids from “family member to family member, shelter to shelter and hotel to hotel” looking for a place to raise her family, Coley said.
Help from Good Fellows allowed her to find a new home, Coley said.
“Good Fellows was able to provide Angelica and her kids a helping hand and a chance to get back on her feet,” he said.
Lindsey has completed her GED and is enrolled as a medical technology student at Central Piedmont Community College, Coley said.
