Good Cheer Fund gives a hand up for the holidays

Hundreds of Johnson County residents received an early Christmas gift on Saturday morning, while dozens of volunteers gathered to deliver that good cheer.

About 900 boxes full of dinner items, including bread, eggs, ham, cheese, noodles and more were handed out to residents throughout the county. Hundreds of volunteers gathered Friday night to help pack the baskets and dozens more got up before dawn to deliver them this morning.

The Good Cheer Fund is an annual charity drive raising money and goods to help the hungry during the holiday season. Donations from the community are used to buy fresh food, perishables and dairy items. Red and green baskets full of perishables, snacks and dinners were delivered to families by volunteers.

The Good Cheer Fund is intricately woven into the fabric of Johnson County, with hundreds of people coming together to make a difference on delivery day and weeks leading up to the big day.

In its first year, $169 was donated to help feed 110 families. This year organizers served at least 900 households and about $75,000 in food was distributed Saturday, said Jake Sappenfield, chairman of the Good Cheer Fund. Nearly $58,000 of that was spent on fresh food and dairy products, he said.

The fund was founded in 1921 and has been a vital part of the area for over one hundred years. The annual charity is a collaboration between area schools, food pantries and volunteers working to deliver food to folks who may not have had it otherwise. The fund was founded by Austin Flinn, a local funeral home owner, and the Franklin Evening Star.

Much of the money is collected during the annual fund drive each holiday season and during the Jim Rhoades Hog Roast. Local schools hold canned food drives and local food pantries partner to help with donations. This year, youth leaders from Leadership Johnson County Youth Leadership Academy took on the challenge of collecting cereal boxes for the Good Cheer Fund. Members of the Youth Leadership Academy collected more than 1,000 cereal boxes — nearly double their goal.

Many families make a tradition out of the Good Cheer Fund. When asked, several volunteers had the same simple answer — their family had participated and they wanted to continue the tradition.

That’s the case for Jack McMahon, who has been a Good Cheer volunteer for over 60 years. His father started volunteering in the 1940s and it quickly became a tradition. He continued the same tradition with his daughter, who now continues the same tradition with her husband and two children. It’s something they look forward to every year, he said. Each year brings something new for the family.

“They’re all different,” McMahon said. “You’ll find people that are incredibly poor. Not recently, but I have been in homes where there are dirt floors. Some homes are very modest and they’re just having a hard time this year. There’s other people that are in generational poverty, it’s a long-term thing. They’re all different.”

The day is an opportunity to give back with her family, Sarah Harmon, McMahon’s daughter said.

“Sometimes you just stop and just talk to them and pray with them while you’re in the house,” Harmon said. “I think sometimes we get so lost in our daily lives, you forget there are people around you that are in need. I think it’s a good time to pause and realize there are opportunities within our county.”

For residents like Lindsey Marqua, the Good Cheer fund helped provide Christmas dinner for her family. Marqua has three children and has been driving her mother back and forth to Indianapolis for cancer treatments. Between the cost of gas, parking fees and Christmas gifts for her children, Marqua said she wasn’t sure how her family was going to have a meal on Christmas, if not for the Good Cheer Fund.

“It makes me feel better because now we don’t have to worry about it,” Marqua said.

Marqua and hundreds of families like hers will be able to take a weight off their shoulders this holiday season.

“This helps out a lot,” Marqua said. “She [her mother] was just saying how upset she was gonna be ‘cause we weren’t going to have food.”

Now Marqua can have dinner with her family, she said, and take one worry off her shoulders.

For others, like David, who choose not to identify his last name, the sentiment is the same. David has been out of work for six months due to an eye injury. He said he doesn’t remember applying for the Good Cheer Fund, but he is thankful that someone saw his need and helped.

“I ain’t been working,” David said. “I’ve been going on this six months. So yeah, this came in handy.”

Franklin Golf Coaches Ted Bishop and Crystal Morse gathered their teams at The Legend’s Golf Club to help distribute dozens of baskets to residents at Franklin Place Apartments.

Bishop said volunteering with the Good Cheer Fund is a great way to engage players from an individualized sport to work as a team. He still remembers delivering baskets in the early ‘90s with his daughters and the impact it had left on them.

“Today’s the most impactful part,” Bishop said. “A sport like golf, we’re fortunate that we’ve got a lot of kids that come from a lot of great families. I think today it makes them really appreciate what they have when they do this.”

Bishop said he hopes his players leave with a bit more appreciation than they started the morning off with.

“Golf is kind of an individual game to play for ourselves,” Bishop said. “This is an opportunity for us to really do something for others.”

Seniors Kyle and Conner Diebold have been volunteering for three years with the golf team, they said.

“It’s been great helping the community, spread joy for the holiday,” Kyle Diebold said.

The two enjoy seeing the smiles on people’s faces when they open the door and hanging out with their friends as they deliver baskets to residents.

Monetary donations will be accepted until the end of December. Donations can be dropped off at our office at 30 S. Water St., Franklin, or mailed to Daily Journal, P.O. Box 699, Franklin, IN 46131.