Goodfellow of Buffalo County

Kearney Goodfellows makes the holidays brighter for needy children by delivering toys, clothing and goodies to their door on Christmas Day. In 2013, almost 1,200 children in the Buffalo County area received gifts from Goodfellows.

While Christmas deliveries are at the heart of the Goodfellows efforts, the organization assists needy children in a variety of ways. Free milk, wam clothing, school supplies and a variety of other assistance is made available so kids are stronger, prepared for school and happier.

As tradition goes, we will publish names of all donors that give a gift before December 31st in the Kearney Hub.  If you would like your gift to be anonymous, we can facilitate that request as well.

Kearney’s Goodfellows organization traces its origins to businessmen who gathered for coffee at the old Fort Kearney Hotel. As banker and longtime Goodfellows board member Wayne McKinney relates, it was sometime in the 1940s when newspaperman Ormond Hill encouraged his coffee buddies to pass the hat to buy Christmas gifts for children in need.

Among the regulars around the table were hotel owner John Henry, oil distributor Howard Nimes and florist O.L. Erickson. Appliance distributor Earl King also was among the instigators, and proudly kicked off each year’s drive with his $100 donation.

Other business leaders got involved soliciting donations and then delivering gifts on Christmas. They included loan officer Keith King, insurance dealer Keith Cottrell, furniture dealer Jack Rall and creamery operator W.B. “Bill” Richardson. Lumber dealers Albert Tollefsen and J.B. Elliott joined in, as did their sons, Ed Tollefsen and Joe Elliott.

Gunnar Mattson was first to map out the city into routes for the one-day drive

The Tollefsens and Elliotts weren’t the only Goodfellows families. Insurance dealer Robert Hazlett was a Goodfellow. His son-in-law, insurance dealer Jim Anderson, followed suit.

McKinney apologized in case he missed a key name. The semi-retired banker has a keen eye for numbers, but Goodfellows owes its success to a host of personalities. Their names may fade from memory, but their work continues.