It is the one day when the headlines are meant to make everyone laugh and are indeed false.
On Thursday, Dec. 4, like they have done since 1924, The Greater Lansing Old News Boys Association, hundreds of volunteers will be out in a 25-mile radius of Lansing, selling satirical newspapers called The Lansing Spoof Journal.
All the money helps provide shoes, boots, and socks to kids in Ingham, Eaton, and Clinton counties.
Claire Corr, a past president for the group, has been with them for 18 years.
“Back in 19 10 a truancy officer by the name of George E. Palmer would knock on the doors of the kids who weren't attending school and he thought they were just you know being bad kids, you know that they were just skipping school and didn't want to attend,” Corr said, “Well, when he found out that they weren't attending because they didn't have the proper footwear, he started the Palmer Shoe Fund.”
Palmer started paying for the shoes out of his own pocket, Corr added. But, the wife of R.E. Olds caught wind of it, giving the first $50 to create the Palmer Shoe Fund.
In 1924, they joined forces with Old News Boys and to this day, continue the good deed of putting shoes, boots, and socks on the feet of kids in the tri-county area.
These chapters exist around Michigan and the United States, but each gravitate to their own cause.
Kids who receive free and reduced lunches qualify for a $50 voucher to pick out any type of shoe and a $10 voucher for socks.
“You can give a dollar you can give $20. You can give $100 or you can give the change in your pocket. It doesn't matter the donation, it all adds up for the greater good.” Corr said.
Last year the community helped raise $202,933!
To find out if your school qualifies, go to lansingoldnewsboys.org