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Houston Chronicle’s Goodfellows Program Turns 100

(Claudia Feldman, Houston Chronicle)
The two children wearing shabby clothes and long faces gazed at the lavish Christmas display in a downtown Houston store window. They shook their heads when a kindly stranger asked them a question.

“No, Santa Claus never comes to our house,” said the girl, shivering in the cold.

Her little brother chimed in, “I wish he would come this time and bring Sister that doll in there – and bring me something, too.”

The year was 1911, and the young brother and sister vanished into the December night. They would never know they were the inspiration for a toy drive that has helped millions of needy children and continues with gusto 100 years later. The man who saw the children staring longingly at the gifts was Houston Chronicle city editor George Kepple. He was so moved by their plight that the next year, 1912, he unveiled what would become his pride and joy – the toy program Goodfellows. (Read more at Houston Chronicle)

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