Many people in Cleburne need a helping hand. Some may be concerned that the King’s Daughters won’t be preparing Christmas Goodfellow boxes this year.

The fact is that donations are needed to do much more. The King’s Daughters are eager for Christmas to last all year long for those in need.

For many years donations to the Goodfellows fund made toys, clothes and food a Christmas reality instead of a dream. For generations, the International Order of King’s Daughters circles were the primary source of community help in Cleburne.

One man told me this week that he had exciting childhood memories of Christmas presents under his tree.

He learned later that they were provided by the Goodfellows. Recently his brother was assisted by the King’s Daughters to buy medicine and help pay his rent. He’ll always be grateful.

Needs today reach beyond Christmas in our struggling economy. Benefactors also make more of a sacrifice when they give.

Circle members said they gave more than 800 Christmas boxes last year with only a $20 clothing allowance available for each child.

It was time to reorganize.

Lisa Waits, president of Cleburne’s King’s Daughters City Union said “services without duplication” is the goal of the future.

“There are five local agencies providing the same service in Cleburne,” she said. “Now our annual citywide toy drive will give toys to Operation Blessing for distribution at Christmas time. Each year we will choose a service agency to receive a generous monetary donation. This year we have chosen East Cleburne Community Center. We will make the presentation along with books for each child at their annual Christmas party. Next year a different service agency will be assisted by our donation.

“We have extended our emergency assistance to families and individuals who request help during the year. We’ll have a large communitywide food drive each spring to fill the shelves of local agencies serving those families in need.”

Some 125 Cleburne women work quietly without fanfare through the International Order of King’s Daughters to raise necessary funding. They meet weekly by circle. Circle representatives meet as the City Union to plan and share ideas.

The first IOKD circle in Cleburne was chartered in 1914 with Mrs. John Cleveland serving as president.

The organization was founded in New York City in the home of Margaret Bottome on Jan. 13, 1886.

It started as a group of 10 friends who wished to work together in expressing their love for God and fellowman. King’s Daughters now have circles in 28 states and in Canada.

Their motto is “look up and not down; look forward and not back; look out and not in: lend a hand.”

The aim of the order is taken from Mark 10:45, “Not to be ministered unto, but to minister.”

The badge of the order is a silver Maltese cross inscribed with the letters IHN representing the watchword, In His Name.

The prayer of the order reads in part, ”By purity and honor and unselfish behavior may we keep ever true our allegiance to Jesus, and seek to labor not for self but for others.”

Perhaps you’ve participated already in events to help Goodfellows.

Cleburne circles with their presidents and primary fundraising projects each year are Friendship Circle, Mary Strange, president, Feed the Fans Spaghetti Supper; Girls of Grace Circle, Tamara Hanna, president, Hop Stop; Hearts of Gold Circle, Debbie Kuklies, president, Christmas House and Spring flower sale; In His Name Circle, Jean McCutchen, president, Games Night; Lend a Hand Circle, Stevie Berg, president, poinsettia sales; Victory Circle, Judy Allen, president, Thanksgiving dinner; Watch and Work Circle, Joan Hinds, president, Kidnap Coffee; and Sunshine Sisters Junior Circle, Tessa Harmon, president, Luanne Bailey and Stevie Berg, sponsors, Bunco Night, “You’ve been pottied.”

Kay Kelm was a member of the first IOKD Junior Circle, formed in 1963.

“We were in the sixth grade and Betty Sloan was our sponsor,” Kelm. “It felt so good for us to help others all the way through our years at school. We think it is important to continue our junior circles.”

Luanne Bailey said the “You’ve Been Pottied” project has been a good fundraiser and has been fun for the girls, who are eighth-graders.

“The girls place this commode filled with flowers in a person’s yard, with a sign, ‘You’ve Been Pottied.’ In order to get it removed from their yard they have to make a donation to Goodfellows,” Bailey saidn. “They can pay double and assign it to a friend’s yard so they will have to deal with it next. It is fun for everybody.”

Barbara Bouleware, international secretary of IOKDS, said Texas and Cleburne have been recognized on the international level for their community projects.

“At the 48th Convention in Williamsburg, Va., in 2008, the Texas branch won two awards,” she said. “The John Rolfe Award was presented for the gift of creative implementation of the Lend a Hand projects [literacy and autism]. The Chief Powhatan award was presented to the Sunshine Sisters Circle of Cleburne as the most active junior circle in 2007.

“In 2007 at the Central Council meeting at Chautauqua, N.Y., the Texas branch received the award for ‘Forming the Most New Junior Circles’ from the membership extension committee.”

Each Cleburne circle has chosen one of the Cleburne schools and works closely with counselors to meet student needs. Personal hygiene supplies and coats were supplied to some students last week. When school supplies are needed, the circles are on call. Scholarships and literacy projects are priorities.

The IOKDS state convention will be held in Cleburne on March 27. Lisa Waits is first vice-president; Stevie Berg, second vice president; Debbie Kuklies is North American Indian chairman; and Luanne Bailey, heads publications for the state.

The Goodfellows annual toy drive will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 12. New toys may be dropped off at a drive-through at Yellow Jacket Stadium. Those gifts will be given to Operation Blessing for distribution.

Donations are desperately needed. King’s Daughters members insist that although most of the thousands of dollars required have not been given yet, God always provides.

I heard a sweet story as we talked about Goodfellows.

The late Mary Lee Browder and the other women in her family were busy preparing Thanksgiving lunch in her kitchen. The men were watching television.

Mary Lee gently shooed the children out to the barn, where they were instructed to plan a play.

When the children had rehearsed, they came back to the house and told their fathers that they must pay admission to see their production.

They were very proud of their proceeds, the story goes, no doubt having plans to spend them for themselves.

The next Monday Mary Lee rounded the grandchildren up and marched them downtown, where she had them hand over their money to the Goodfellows.

She was a King’s Daughter.

Your tax-deductible donation may be mailed to P.O. Box 1411, Cleburne, TX 76033.

Larue Barnes may be reached at laruebarnes@yahoo.com.

For more information about joining or forming an IOKD circle, contact stevieberg@charter.net.

Donations to Goodfellows

P. O. Box 1411, Cleburne, TX 76033