Dear ,

On behalf of the Farmington Area Goodfellows and our all-volunteer staff, we would like to thank you for your support this year. Farmington and Farmington Hills are truly a community that cares. That was never more evident than December 22 this year, when over 250 volunteers descended on our warehouse location to load cars, make deliveries, write thank you notes and help pack up our offices. Later this week, Professional Movers of Walled Lake will pick up our office furnishings and warehouse equipment to store it for the next 10 months. In November 2019, we will unpack again, as soon as we find a vacant warehouse and a generous landlord.

For those in our community who are considered at-risk, the holidays can be a challenging time. Last year, thanks to support from friends like you, we helped almost 500 of our neighbors in need. These children, families and seniors in-need in our Holiday Assistance Program received over 28,000 non-perishable food items, over 140 cases of diapers and boxes of baby wipes, more than 1,200 toys and 1,200 age-appropriate books. This year our recipents also included 79 seniors and 31 developmentally challenged adults. While it is not in our mission statement, we are proud of our role in making sure that no child or senior has to go to bed hungry this holiday.

We couldn’t do what we do without the help and support of our community, and we wanted to say thank you to so many that helped us with our mission this year. Sellers GMC gave us a truck to collect food and toys. Hino Motors not only gave us a truck, but loaned us their building and donated some furniture to replace our “well-seasoned” office desks. Efficient Office Solutions also donated furniture. John Cowley & Sons, Peterlins, Bella Vita, Bunchy’s Chicken & Pizza and Farmington Deli all made sure that our warehouse staff had first-class lunches every day we worked. Dr Jusino, Flex, the Farmington Civic Theater, the cities of Farmington and Farmington Hills, the 47^th District Court, Dwyer Marble and Stone, the Suburban Collection, McCarthy & Smith, Paulson’s Audio & Video, First Presbyterian Church,  are just a handful of the companies that play a significant role in our mission. We can’t thank them enough.

Of course we also rely on local businesses and organizations to collect food, toys, books and donations for our program. Our schools and several groups collected more than 28,000 cans and boxes of food and thousands of toys. We were helped on Delivery Day by the Flyers Hockey Team, FHPD, FHFD, more than 200 volunteer drivers, students from the Superintendent’s Roundtable and National Honor Society. For almost 20 years we have shared space each year with Toys for Tots Oakland County. With their help, every child was able to get 3-4 toys from their wish list this year. Working at the Goodfellows is in so many ways it’s own reward, it’s an incredibly gratifying community-wide effort.

Although we are best known for our activities during the holiday season, we also support those less fortunate through Neighborhood House located in the Jon Grant Community Center, and CARES of Farmington Hills located at the site of the former St Alexander Church. Neighborhood House maintains a food pantry, and can provide qualified applicants with assistance for utilities or rent, and vouchers for food or clothing. CARES maintains a food pantry and clothing closet. The “one-stop” CARES campus is also home to Rebuilding Together, WIC, Oakland County Veteran’s Assistance, Another Day Resource Center and other social safety net agencies.

On behalf of the Goodfellows, our amazing volunteers, and the hundreds of neighbors we were able to help this holiday season, thank you again for your support this year. Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns, or would like to become more involved in our program. For more information, visit us at www.goodfellows.info. The Farmington Area Goodfellows are a 501c3 public charity, and donations are tax-deductible to the full extent permitted by IRS code.

Thank you again for your support. We wish you and your family a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.

Sincerely,

Richard Lerner
President, Farmington Area Goodfellows