By: Kathryn Pentiuk | Southfield Sun | Published December 19, 2024
SOUTHFIELD — “Christmas would not have been Christmas for me without the Goodfellows.”
That is the conclusion of Loretta DeLoach, a Lathrup Village resident of 40 years.
Growing up in Highland Park as the youngest of four children, she was raised by a single mother after her father passed away when she was only 5 years old.
Through the Detroit Goodfellows, a nonprofit organization, she remembers getting dolls for Christmas, regular dentist appointments and attending camp for two weeks out of the year.
“We were also allowed to go to camp because we got the Goodfellows. Yes, we got to go to camp two weeks every single year,” she said.
DeLoach explained that sending children to camp every year for two weeks wasn’t something that single parents could typically do when she was growing up.
“Now, my mom, she really handled the money well. She did,” DeLoach said. “I didn’t know I was poor until I was grown. I really didn’t. Because we had regular dental appointments, and this is something normal for the average person, but back in Highland Park, it wasn’t that way back then.”
The Detroit Goodfellows was founded in 1914 by James J. Brady with the motto “No Kiddie Without a Christmas.” In 1924, the J.L. Hudson department store partnered up with Brady and announced via a radio ad that they were looking for people to dress dolls for children to receive for Christmas.
It was a full-circle moment for DeLoach when she became a doll dresser for the Goodfellows in the 1960s after the opportunity was introduced to her a few years after she began working at Michigan Bell Telephone Co.
“So when I was able to do it at the phone company, it was just a natural thing to do, and I was so happy to be able to give back because I had many years of happiness because of that. And I’m sure that other kids will feel the same way that I did,” DeLoach said. “I think God has left me here so that I can volunteer.”
DeLoach explained that Lathrup Village was unfamiliar with the Goodfellows doll dressing program. When she introduced the idea to the Lathrup Village Women’s Club in the 1990s, it gained popularity, allowing the 24 members of the 85-year-old club to express their creativity through doll dressing.
DeLoach added that some women sew intricate outfits for the dolls to don, including her friend Alice, who is a seamstress.
“Now we have a lady in Lathrup village. Her name is Alice. She doesn’t live too far here, and so she dresses 10 dolls,” DeLoach said. “She said she can’t do all 40. … She’s my friend, and she does a beautiful job.”
Annie Nickert, vice president of Detroit Goodfellows and the doll committee chair, mentioned how impressive the doll dressers’ work is, adding that the dolls are clothed in everything from Detroit Lions gear to the likeness of Motown icon Aretha Franklin.
“I want to say 80% of our doll dressers still handmake the outfits for the dolls,” Nickert said.
Each year, the dolls, which range in size from the classic Goodfellows doll at around 14 inches to the newer 17-inch dolls with soft sides, are distributed in April. The doll dressers have through the summer until mid-August to return the dressed dolls so that they can be packed and distributed.
Nickert shared that in the first year of the doll dressing program, 1,000 dolls were dressed. This year, over 9,000 dolls were dressed and packed in Christmas boxes based on age group and gender.
The Detroit Goodfellows serve the communities of Detroit, Highland Park, Redford, River Rouge, Hamtramck, Harper Woods and Ecorse, providing boxes containing items such as toys, books and clothing for children ages 4-13.
“When I go to distribute the boxes and help out doing that at the 10th Precinct, sometimes, when things are quiet, I’ll open a couple of boxes up and display the dolls that are in there because they’re always fun to look at because you never know what’s going to be in the box,” said F.J. Brady, the great-nephew of James J. Brady. “It’s always a surprise because they’re all so different. So that’s another joy that you have with doing this.”
F.J. Brady shared the impact that the Goodfellows have had on his family through the generations.
“It keeps us all so focused on each other and on our mission,” F.J. Brady said. “The mission here is to give back to the city. The city of Detroit has given the Bradys so much over these last 100 years, and to be able to pay that back and to honor the city in that way, to me, is what we’re all about.”
F.J. Brady added that Detroit has played a significant role in his life and in the lives of his family members.
“Because without Detroit I wouldn’t be who I am today,” he said. “I really feel that, and I think Jim Brady felt the same way when he was growing up, that his network of friends there were critical to him and his success.
“I think that’s what life is all about, is to be able to give it back. And there’s not a better way to do that than with rewarding the kids every year on Christmastime,” he added.
F.J. Brady said that in addition to giving Christmas gift boxes to local children, the Goodfellows are hard at work all year-round helping children attend summer camps and dentist appointments, and making sure they have shoes to wear.
The Detroit Goodfellows also offers a scholarship program with Wayne State University’s journalism school. F.J. Brady shared that fundraising events help make these programs possible, such as the Annual Tribute Breakfast, which honors a Goodfellow of the Year.
This year, Sheila and Steve Hamp were honored with the 2024 Edward H. McNamara Goodfellow of the Year Award. Sheila is the principal owner and chair of the Detroit Lions, and Steve, former president of The Henry Ford, is chair of the Michigan Education Foundation and sits on the board of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy.
For more information about the Detroit Goodfellows, visit detroitgoodfellows.org.