OLD NEWSBOYS

Goodfellows set to peddle papers for needy kids

Donations from Friday’s sale help buy coats, shoes

John Mattimoe, left, Old Newsboys president, Emmett Beavers, Jr., 2013 honorary Newsboy, and Tracey Edwards, vice president, prepare for Friday’s special edition sale at Michael’s Restaurant in Toledo.

Many children often don’t get to choose what shoes or coat they get to wear in winter.

But soon, some of them will.

More than 500 volunteers will see to that when they fan out Friday, equipped with newspaper bags and red donation jugs, to area shopping centers, stores, bowling alleys, and credit unions to hawk Toledo’s Old Newsboys Goodfellows Association’s annual charity edition newspaper.

“It’s a good feeling helping the kids,” Rex Maxwell, 64, of Toledo, said. “It’s just something I do. It gives you satisfaction.”

Come Friday, he will be volunteering for the paper sale for the 29th straight year, he said. The association’s 84th annual paper sale aims to raise at least $200,000 to benefit hundreds of needy children from 65 schools in northwest Ohio, event organizers said.

“These kids are going to get a new pair of shoes or a new coat,” John Mattimoe, the association’s president, said. “And they get to choose. And a lot of time they don’t have a choice like that.”

Once the funds are raised, between $140,000 and $150,000 will be spent on vouchers, which the children can swap for shoes or coats at The Andersons, 4701 Talmadge Rd. Vouchers are issued electronically through the association’s Web site, accessible by school principals and guidance counselors who distribute them to needy school children.

“We would like people to donate so we can help kids who are needy,” Mr. Mattimoe said. “It’s immediate aid. The kids get the vouchers right away, and then they can immediately go to The Andersons and get what they need. There’s no red tape.”

The group also sets aside between $10,000 and $20,000 for food and emergency medical care, Mr. Mattimoe said. The remaining $40,000 will buy eight college scholarships that are $5,000 each.

“We must raise these funds in order to meet the growing need,” he said, noting that the association is 100 percent volunteer, which means that every dollar raised on Friday will be spent on the needy.

Contact Mike Sigov at: sigov@theblade.com, 419-724-6089, or on Twitter @mikesigovblade.