“An Omaha couple have honored the memory of their daughter who died of leukemia through a growing donation to Goodfellows since 2016. Bobbi and Mike Gatrost donated $430 to this year’s Goodfellows campaign in memory of daughter Tammy Gatrost, a high school teacher in Missouri Valley, Iowa, who died seven years ago.

Tammy was 36 when she died and that year, the Gatrosts made a $360 donation to Goodfellows in her memory. Every year since then, they’ve added an additional $10 to their donation to mark the age she would have been, Bobbi said. “I know that Goodfellows is the organization that helps people when they’re down on their luck,” Bobbi said.

…Tammy was a dedicated teacher and had talked about wanting to find a way to help others who were less fortunate, Bobbi said. “She was always trying to help others,” she said.

…While Tammy never married or had children, she enjoyed spending time with family, Bobbi said. Tammy also loved Christmas. “We had talked around Christmastime about doing something for others, and I just thought that Goodfellows was a good thing,” Bobbi said.

“Anne and James Foley were ardent supporters of Goodfellows and other charities in the Omaha area. Now, their children are continuing their legacy of giving through a donation in their honor. “It was just an act of continuing to give in their name,” Tom Foley said of the $10,000 donation that he and his siblings Jamie and Chrysa made to Goodfellows this year in honor of their parents.

Anne died in January at age 90 and James, died in 2007 at 75. While Anne was a native of New York and James grew up in Grand Island, they lived in Omaha and Bellevue for several decades, Tom said. … Giving back to Goodfellows and other organizations was important to both Anne and James, Tom said. “They just believed in sharing their success and making sure they remembered others,” he said.

Tom said his parents instilled in him and his siblings the importance of helping others through hard times. “It’s a family value that’s carried on,” he said. While his siblings have both moved away, Tom remains in Omaha and …Tom said he himself has donated to Goodfellows for around 40 years and appreciates the organization’s history of helping people in need.

“Goodfellows has done a lot of great work over the years making an impact locally,” he said. Tom said he appreciates that Goodfellows provides one-time assistance to those who need help getting back on their feet. “It’s a safety net and it’s a boost, but it’s not a long-term answer,” he said. “But certainly people need a boost.”