Shame, as well as poverty, keeps kids from going to school

“I owned one pair of pants. They were full of holes. I had one pair of socks and they were patched up I don’t remember how many times. How could I go to school? You’d be ashamed to go out on the street.”

My father told me that story when I asked him why he didn’t go to high school. He made that decision in 1933, at age 13, during The Great Depression. Unemployment was at 25 percent. Families ate at soup kitchens, stood in bread lines and depended on the kindness of neighbors. In my father’s case, a nearby farmer dropped off sugar beets at the end of the driveway to help feed a family of nine.

Poverty is debilitating, but so too is shame. Thousands of kids in Northwest Ohio made the same decision my father made. So many that in 1929, at the start of The Depression, a group of former newsboys formed a local charity called The Old Newsboys Goodfellow Association. Their motto is: “No child shall miss school for lack of shoes or coat.”

Fast forward 82 years later. The Old Newsboys are gearing up for their annual paper sale this Friday, December 2. They hope to top last year’s total of $175,000, said Jack Renz, this year’s relief chairman. Last year, the newsboys spent more than $113,000 to supply coats and shoes for 6,000 children. In addition, they spent $10,000 to feed needy families, $15,000 to provide emergency relief and awarded eight $5,000 scholarships to high school seniors who would not otherwise have the chance to attend college.

Every dollar raised by this all-volunteer organization goes to helping the less-fortunate. There are no administrative or marketing costs. But, this year, there is a hole to fill on the revenue side. Elmer Scallish, a former president and long-time member, passed away at age 83. Over the years, the Scallish family has raised an estimated $660,000.

Scallish was an All-State football player at Waite in the mid 1940s. He went on to earn three varsity letters at Purdue and return to coach his alma mater. His career at Toledo Public Schools also included administrative stops at Woodward High School and as supervisor of adult education.

Scallish’s sports connection helped him recruit members for the organization as did his leadership roles for a number of community organizations including the Eastern YMCA and Knights of Columbus.

Renz said Scallish brought in between $25,000 to $75,000 a year.

“Elmer’s big deal was he would send letters to the entire Yellow Pages if he could,” Renz said. “His gregarious personality allowed him to make an incredible amount of friendships and he sent them letters. I remember being at his house one day and he had 12,000 postcards he had hand-addressed.”

Danny Knopp, a 1975 Waite grad and real estate agent with Danberry Realtors, is dedicating his collections this year in honor of the man who recruited him when he was a student at Waite. “Let’s make this one for Elmer,” he says urging others to up their donation to honor Scallish.

Knopp has automated Scallish’s letter writing campaign. He supplies 25,000 letters and envelopes to The Press. Our carriers deliver them to East Toledo, Oregon, Northwood, Curtice, Walbridge, Millbury and Lake Township. Press readers typically donate $8,000 to $15,000 annually, Knopp said.

Some say the Big Recession, the worst economic time this country has faced since the Great Depression, is over. But, here in Northwest Ohio, recovery is still slow and the need still great. Winter coats and shoes are still needed so this Friday the Old Newsboys will be in front of stores and on street corners hawking their papers. I will be in front of The Andersons, as a member of the East Toledo Club. My thoughts will be with the man who was too ashamed to go to school in 1933. I will be one of a dwindling number of “sellers” at a dwindling number of stores, Renz says.

At one time, 300 Old Newsboys raised more than $200,000 annually. Today, there are only 150 to 200 volunteers and some stores, like Kroger, are banning “sellers” due to complaints from shoppers. Hence, the Old Newsboys have expanded donation efforts. The Press, for years, has delivered a donation envelope to its readers, which we did last week. If you did not receive one and wish to donate you can mail a check to Old Newsboys Goodfellow Association, P.O. Box 340, Toledo, OH 43697 or call 419-537-7667

To learn more go to toledonewsboys.org. You may comment at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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