" );
  • Good Fellows dig deeper to help those less blessed
    Posted on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2003
    observerlogo
    spacer
    Good Fellows dig deeper to help those less blessed
    Men pitch in $171,556 for needy families; Tomlinson leaving post
     
    Jeri Fischer Krentz
    Staff Writer

    Charlotte's all-male Good Fellows Club gathered for its 86th annual lunch Wednesday and raised $171,556 to help needy families through the next year.
    The holiday tradition drew 1,140 to the Charlotte Convention Center.
    "This is a room full of the most blessed men in the city of Charlotte," club vice president Bill White told the group of government officials, bankers, developers and lawyers.
    To encourage the men to open their wallets, three speakers described visits with families who need Good Fellows support.
    Peter Browning, dean of the McColl Graduate School of Business at Queens University of Charlotte, told of a couple who moved to Charlotte hoping for a better life for their children. They then lost their jobs because of the economy.
    Graham Denton, Charlotte market president for Bank of America, met a family of six whose furniture had been repossessed and their utilities disconnected. They used candles for light and cooked at a neighbor's.
    Jerry Richardson, owner of the Carolina Panthers, visited a single mother of four who takes two buses daily to get to a job that pays $6.50 an hour.
    Said Richardson: "I had a sobering dose of reality."
    After the speeches, a half-dozen "basket boys" -- all well-known Charlotteans -- visited tables to collect cash, checks and pledges.
    For the first time since 1987, club president Larry Tomlinson didn't preside over the meeting. He's retiring as president of the board Jan. 1.
    The club has had only three presidents in its history. The previous presidents were David Ovens and Col. J. Norman Pease. Tomlinson, a retired insurance executive, attended his first lunch in 1946.
    "Larry has been `Mr. Good Fellow' for 17 years," White said.
    White announced that the club was giving Tomlinson a book of his funniest jokes -- and a pen for writing them in "because we couldn't think of any."
    Last year's lunch brought in about $133,000. The group's female counterpart, Good Friends, met Tuesday and raised $131,259.
    Want to Give?
    For more information, call Good Fellows at (704) 374-1108.