By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
November 23, 2011

Allen Matney grew up an orphan, an illegitimate child.

Three months after his birth, his mother died. As for his father, all he had was a last name and an occupation.

But Matney doesn’t speak with bitterness or beg for sympathy.

This 74-year-old is resilient, unselfish and genuinely cares about the well-being of others.

“Allen is one of those people that no matter how little he had, he’d give it to you all if that’s what you needed. He’s just that way,” said Carla Brewer, director of the Don Bosco Family Support Center.

Since 2005, Matney has been volunteering five days a week at the Don Bosco Senior Center, packaging meals for Meals on Wheels and signing in seniors for lunch.

“I just wanted to keep busy,” he said of volunteering. “I don’t like just sitting around.”

With a friendly demeanor, he greets all who enter the doors of Don Bosco and said “there’s no sense not to.”

“I’ve been taught that since I was a kid – be friendly with each other. I speak to all of them that come in. Some of them don’t speak back, but that don’t bother me,” Matney said.

Humble beginnings

Growing up, Matney lived in a Christian sponsored orphanage, which later became a children’s home called “Life Line Children’s Home” located in Kansas City, Kan. He lived there until the age of 22, surrounded by boys and girls of all ages.

His biggest influence was Sister Sadie Smith, or Sister Smith as they called her.

Asked what he learned from her, Matney said, “You better do what you’re told and not complain about it, and I learned to be thankful for whatever is given to you, which I always have been. And I have learned to do what I’m told.”

For Matney, Sister Smith became a mother figure who treated him like her own.

He recalled the time his ninth birthday fell on Easter Sunday and Sister Smith surprised him right before bed time.

In her arms was a gift box with an Easter outfit tucked inside – a three piece candy-striped suit complete with a red tie, patent leather shoes, socks, a coat and a hat.

“It wasn’t stuff that came in and was donated,” he said. “She went out and bought it. That’s when I knew she really loved me, not as a boy, but as one of her children.

“I kept the suit for a long time, even after I grew up. I kept it for a souvenir. It finally rotted away,” he said with a laugh.

When Matney left the children’s home, he held a number of custodial jobs and also worked for Strasser Hardware as a shipping and receiving clerk.

For one year, he returned to the children’s home to serve as a “house father.”

“They were needing a house parent, so I said, ‘Well, I’ll go back.'”

Throughout his life, he’s maintained that selfless nature and it’s one of the reasons he received the 2011 Local Hero award sponsored by the Bank of America Neighborhood Excellence Initiative.

Both Brewer and Senior Center Director Anne Miller nominated Matney for the award.

“He doesn’t look for recognition or a pat on the back. He’s very humble,” Miller said. “People just love him to pieces.

“He has a gentle way of coaxing a person. We serve a growing number of Spanish speaking and Vietnamese speaking people, and even with the language barrier, he has his way of coaxing people to follow certain rules.”

Matney’s giving nature extends beyond Don Bosco, Miller said.

During the weekends, he helps St. Mary’s Episcopal Church stuff food bags and distribute them to those in need.

When his 94-year-old neighbor was still living, Matney helped the man with laundry, grocery shopping, banking and taking out the trash.

“He was getting to the age where it was a little hard for him – a 92-year-old man at that time,” Matney explained.

Asked for his reaction to being told about his award, Matney said, “I was completely flabbergasted.”

Matney, along with four other Kansas Citians, received the award Oct. 25 at Union Station. In addition to a plaque, Matney received a $5,000 check to give to a non-profit organization and he naturally chose Don Bosco.

To say Matney is dedicated to Don Bosco is almost an understatement. Despite a limp, he walks the six blocks from his home to the senior center five days a week.

When Don Bosco called one morning to say they were shorthanded and asked him to come earlier, he said he’d dump his coffee and head out the door. Knowing Don Bosco needed him, his walk became a run.

“I got about halfway down Charlotte and tripped and hit the street. But, I got up and came wobbling in,” he said. “I didn’t move as fast that day, but I got it done.”

On Fridays, Matney warms up his voice to sing solos for the seniors and employees.

His church choir director couldn’t believe he’d never had a private voice lesson.

“The Lord gave me this voice, so the Lord’s going to help me use it,” he responded.

One day he stopped some visiting Kansas City Chiefs football players in their tracks, Miller said.

“He’s amazing,” Miller said of Matney’s voice. “He stops people in their tracks when he begins to sing. Even though he’s small in stature he can belt out the most beautiful songs.”

Matney praised Don Bosco and said he thinks about the center even when he’s at home.

“Yeah, I love Don Bosco, I really do. I love coming here.”