Good Fellows raise $243,000 for poor

Published Dec. 9, 2009 at 11:29 p.m.

Once again, Louise Williams' boys didn't let her down.

At their yearly Good Fellows Club lunch meeting on Wednesday, nearly 1,000 members and guests dug painfully deep, and stuffed about $243,000 into shopping bags to help the working poor.

Many gave because the hard times demanded it, and because their giving was a tribute to Williams, who was overseeing her 18th and final meeting.

“We are absolutely, fantastically happy that it went this well,” said Crowder Falls, a 30-year member who oversaw the counting. “Some of the giving was to honor Louise.”

That's $12,000 over the amount raised during last year's meeting – with another $27,000 coming in after.

“We expect more will come in,” said incoming President Frank Dowd IV. “But to be up in a year like this, I feel very grateful for the generosity.”

Much was riding on the fundraiser at the Charlotte Convention Center.

Since 1917, the all-male group of professional, business and leaders have met to raise huge sums of money – approaching $2 million over the last seven years – that has helped keep thousands of the working poor fed, warm and in their homes.

As outgoing president Bill White aptly put it, that's a long time for a club to survive that gives its members nothing more than “the satisfaction of helping and loving your fellow man.”

The anecdotal evidence of their good-doing is vast – much of it used to prod Wednesday's crowd to give more.

Davidson College President Tom Ross spoke Wednesday. He'd never been to a Good Fellows meeting and knew nothing about it.

So he investigated.

One story in particular moved him: About Jim and Sandy, a couple who moved to Charlotte a year ago with four young children after Jim took a job here.

The job didn't work out and in the worsening economy he was unable to find another one. Sandy waitressed and was a substitute teacher, but that didn't pay the bills and rent. The family faced eviction.

Until the Good Fellows stepped in.

“This time last year, Sandy and Jim were about to fall into the tragic cycle of homelessness. Good Fellows gave them a second chance,” Ross said. “Today this young family is back on track. … because you care and understand the spirit and true meaning of this season.”

In his remarks, Dowd honored Williams, calling her “tough and tender.” The Fellows stood in a sustained ovation.

Before the “bag boys” – mostly politicians like former Mayor Pat McCrory and new Mayor Anthony Foxx – worked the room with shopping bags, Dowd urged the members to give 25 percent more than they'd planned.

“A lot of people are depending on you,” Dowd said.

Developer Johnny Harris, the club's vice president, presided over the giving – as he and the bag boys poked fun at notables and each other.

The money was raised in seven minutes.

It hardly seemed like an official Good Fellows meeting without Larry Tomlinson there to open it. Tomlinson, a longtime club president and member since 1946, had opened the past 22 meetings. He died in October at age 90.

But his wife, Sarah, was there with their three daughters. She remembers going to meetings when wives had to sit behind a curtain and look out on the crowd through “peep holes.”

“The Good Fellows have come a long way,” Sarah Tomlinson said.

It was Larry Tomlinson who suggested that the women start their own club. They did in 1987, calling themselves “Good Friends.”

The Friends meet next week – to try to out raise the Fellows.

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