Detroit Goodfellows Seeks Doll Dressers
As Community Need Increases
Groups and individuals needed to help dress 12,000 dolls for area children
DETROIT, July 19, 2010 – Every year since 1924, volunteers from all over metro Detroit have dressed dolls for the Old Newsboys’ Goodfellow Fund of Detroit holiday gift packages. This year the 96-year-old charity, founded in 1914 with a mission to ensure there is “No Kiddie Without a Christmas,” is feeling the impact of a poor economy and needs new volunteers from corporations and community groups, as well as individuals, to dress dolls for needy children in Detroit, Hamtramck, Highland Park and River Rouge this holiday season.
“The Detroit Goodfellows have lost many of their most important volunteers this past year – our doll-dressers. This is mostly due to corporate downsizing, and has happened at a time when community hardship has risen,” says Detroit Goodfellows President Bob Carabelli. “This year the Detroit Goodfellows has purchased 12,000 dolls for distribution to girls aged four through eleven.”
Volunteers from many different community groups dress the dolls in a variety of outfits and return them to the Detroit Goodfellows for packaging and distribution to the children. The majority of the dolls are dressed in hand-made clothing incorporating an array of themes such as fairy tale characters, brides, assorted career styles, traditional African American dress, crocheted and knitted garments, and more.
Volunteer doll-dressers truly make a difference in a little girl’s life, and this is the primary reason for their generosity. Many Girl Scout and Brownie troops currently dress dolls every year and more are always welcome as are individual students. This is a great opportunity for kids to help other kids. They also may have their doll selected as one of the ten “best dressed” dolls of the season. Each November, Compuware Corporation, a sponsor of the program since 2004, hosts a citywide display of the 150 “best dressed” dolls, from which local celebrity judges pick the top ten. The display is in Compuware’s downtown Detroit headquarters and is open to the public.
For more information about becoming a doll dresser or the Detroit Goodfellow organization, please contact Sari Klok-Schneider at (586) 775-6139 or via email at sarigoodfellows@gmail.com.
The Detroit Goodfellows is the original and oldest Goodfellow organization and is not affiliated with any other Goodfellow group. It also sponsors an emergency dental program for children, awards scholarships through Wayne State University, provides free shoes to children in need and helps send hundreds of needy children to camp each summer.
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