<p><strong>N</strong>o one should have to go to bed hungry.</p>
<p>That was what Clyde Vaught Jr. always told his children. Vaught grew up in crushing poverty in Tennessee, having to leave school in the third grade so he could go to work in the tobacco fields and help support his family. Food always seemed to be scarce.</p>
<p>“He looked forward to at Easter, getting an Easter egg, just so he could have a fried egg,” said Danny Vaught, one of his sons.</p>
<p>Vaught instilled in his family the values of charity, and they still hold those values dear. Every year, the Vaughts donate to the Good Cheer Fund, which distributes food to about 800 Johnson County households during the holidays.</p>
<p>When his sons, Danny and David Vaught, saw that donations were sluggish to the annual Good Cheer Fund, they wanted to do more.</p>
<p>The result was a $5,000 donation from the family and their business, Central Indiana Truck Equipment.</p>
<p>“This truly is a community effort, and a lot of people in our community learn about need and about giving through this organization. They teach successive generations about that, that’s the way it’s been done here,” Danny Vaught said. “For David and I, this is something we really do like to support.”</p>
<p>Danny and David Vaught are the owners of Central Indiana Truck Equipment, which their father founded in 1961 in Indianapolis. Each year, they make a donation to the Good Cheer Fund, usually an amount such as $1,000 or $2,000.</p>
<p>Part of the reason the Good Cheer Fund is so important to them is that it helps feed the poor, particularly children struggling with hunger, Danny Vaught said.</p>
<p>“The Good Cheer Fund is something that has always been important for us, because our dad knew hunger when he was a child,” he said.</p>
<p>The Good Cheer Fund is a Johnson County holiday tradition dating back to 1921. Baskets are dropped off at local households for families in need and contain fresh food such as ham, chicken, eggs and cheese for Christmas dinner. In addition, the deliveries include enough canned and non-perishable food so people can eat for days after the holiday.</p>
<p>About 800 baskets will be delivered. People in Greenwood and the Center Grove area received theirs Saturday, and the rest of the county will be taken care of Tuesday.</p>
<p>After seeing a story in last week’s Daily Journal about donations to the fund lagging this year compared to past years, Danny Vaught contacted his brother about making their yearly donation.</p>
<p>David Vaught suggested maybe they do more than they usually do.</p>
<p>“He and I got into the office together, and I told him about the article in the paper, how the fund was running behind this year. And he said we could do it for $5,000, and that’s what we did,” Danny Vaught said.</p>
<p>Their family has been blessed over the years, and this has always been a way they could give back to their community, he said.</p>
<p>“As kids, we never knew hunger. We have the opportunity with these baskets to help kids who, through no fault of their own, are hungry,” Danny Vaught said. “And we’re very glad to have that opportunity.”</p>[sc:pullout-title pullout-title="How to help" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p>Monetary donations to the Good Cheer Fund 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.</p>[sc:pullout-text-end]
