A lesson in generosity was unfolding before their eyes.
Jeff and Jan Lindstrom watched as their 8-year-old grandson, Jordan, carried food and toys into the small apartment. The Bargersville couple had been volunteering with the Good Cheer Fund for more than 20 years, helping pass out eggs, milk, cheese, ham and other items to families in need of some help during the holidays.
For the first time in 2018, they had brought their grandson with them. At any house with children in it, Jordan’s responsibility was to give them small toys for the holiday.
"He’s talked about it all year. He saw the impact we could make," Jan Lindstrom said. "He’s made it a point to go with us again this year. It makes everybody feel better all the way around."
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The Lindstroms’ experience is one that embodies the holiday spirit, and what keeps dozens of local families coming back to volunteer year after year. Hundreds of volunteers help collect the food, fill the baskets and take them to the houses chosen to receive them. School children help provide close to 40,000 nonperishable food items — soup, vegetables, peanut butter and boxed meals, among other items.
In the days leading up to Christmas, more than 800 deliveries of fresh food and a variety of canned goods will be distributed to all corners of the county.
The Good Cheer Fund is a community-wide effort, bringing together families, individuals, schools, churches and businesses to help with everything from donating food to putting together baskets to fanning out like a mobile army to deliver food to those who need it.
Having people who come back year after year to help is integral to Good Cheer’s success, said Jacob Sappenfield, chairman of the fund.
"It’s important for the process to be consistent. There are a lot of moving parts and everyone is busy. For those who have done it in the past, they know how it works and they make it happen," he said. "I also know how important it is to them personally, as they share the same commitment to helping our community as I do."
The Good Cheer Fund is the annual charity drive raising money and food to help the hungry during the holiday season. Donations from the community are used to buy fresh food, such as produce, potatoes, meat, cheese and milk.
On top of those contributions, children throughout the county collect nonperishable items to ensure people have three or four days worth of food around Christmas.
The fund was founded in 1921 by Austin Flinn, a local funeral home owner, and the Franklin Evening Star. That first year, $169 was donated to help feed 110 families. Nearly 100 years later, more than 800 families are served by Good Cheer, Sappenfield said.
"It shows unity in our community and a commitment to take care of our neighbors. It’s important for us to give and to help others. Good Cheer is an opportunity for our community to give back to those in our backyard who need a little extra help," he said.
With all of the food that’s been donated, it falls to an army of volunteers to get it to the people who need it most. They divide the donated food into piles, fill each delivery basket, then hand-deliver each one to the families chosen to receive a basket.
For volunteers, the experiences and encounters with other families is what makes the Good Cheer experience special.
Jim and Sheila Wooten have been involved with the Good Cheer Fund for more than 20 years. They started in the mid-90s, in an effort driven by their daughter. She had been chosen to the youth advisory council started by Franklin mayor Herschel Cook, and one of their activities was volunteering to help with Good Cheer.
She convinced her parents and siblings to sign up to deliver on the morning of Dec. 24.
"That morning, she did not want to go. It was so early. We made her go, since it was her idea," Sheila Wooten said. "A news crew was assigned to follow us around, and that made it cool to her. After that, it’s been every year for us."
The Wootens have continued to deliver each year, even as their children have grown older and moved away from Franklin. The opportunity to show how others who are less fortunate than them live was an important lesson.
"We’ve always been, and still are, very mindful of others and our station in life," Sheila Wooten said. "To physically be in the homes, that was different."
When the Lindstroms signed up to help with the fund in the late 1990s, they felt it was the best way to lend a hand during the holiday season.
"We wanted to do something to give back," Jeff Lindstrom said.
On the morning of Christmas Eve, they go out for breakfast, then head to the Johnson County REMC to load up their car with assembled food baskets and head to the assigned homes they’ve been given.
Each delivery is a unique experience. Young parents excitedly show their kids food that they rarely have. Older adults are just as happy for the holiday company as they are for the baskets.
It can get emotional sometimes, Jan Lindstrom said.
"One time, we took a basket into the apartment. There was a little boy standing there, and he asked, ‘Does it have milk in it?’ When we told him it did, he turned around and said, ‘Look Mommy, we have milk!’" she said. "Oh, it broke my heart."
People can apply for the baskets through applications printed in the Daily Journal and distributed to the community. Recipients can be referred by schools, social organizations and other social service groups.
Families are chosen based on the degree of need, with those referred from the local schools given priority.
The main thrust of deliveries will be made in Franklin, Bargersville and Trafalgar. Organizers select 360 families in this area to receive baskets, and people gather early on the morning of Dec. 24 to deliver to those homes.
The Greenwood Fraternal Order of Police takes care of delivery in the northern part of the county. Members and other volunteers help organize the distribution of 240 baskets in Greenwood and the Center Grove area.
Around Edinburgh and Nineveh, distribution falls to the Edinburgh Fire Department. Firefighters will pass out 200 baskets to residents on the morning of Christmas Eve.
The Wootens will be there once again, getting up early to pick up their assignments, dropping the food off then heading off to breakfast. They’re not sure how many of their children or grandchildren will be able to take part, but regardless, it will be a fitting prelude to the Christmas holiday.
"It’s been a great experience for all of us," Jim Wooten said. "I can’t think of a time when there’s been anything but gratitude from the people we dropped off to."
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What: Good Cheer Fund, an annual effort to pass out holiday food baskets to the needy throughout Johnson County. Baskets include a mix of canned foods and fresh items, such as a ham or chicken, eggs, milk and cheese.
How many: About 800 baskets
Distribution: 360 baskets will go to the Franklin, Trafalgar and Bargersville areas; 240 will go to Greenwood and the northern part of the county; and 200 will go to the Edinburgh area.
How to apply: Applications, both in Spanish and English, can be found in the Daily Journal today and on Dec. 7. To be considered for a basket, applications must be received by Dec. 11. For more information, call 317-777-1159.
How to give: Monetary donations will be accepted until the end of December. Donations can be mailed to the Daily Journal, P.O. Box 699, Franklin, IN 46131, or dropped off at the Daily Journal at 30 S. Water St., Second floor, Suite A, in Franklin.
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