Matt Hernandez donated $100 to the Manteca-Lathrop Boys and Girls Club on Tuesday night. 

The teen had no intention of doing so prior to two hours before showing up to the organization’s annual telethon. It’s the main fundraiser that helps provide funding and programming for thousands of at-risk youth in the community through afterschool programs and personal mentorship. 

But when he got a phone call from Phil Waterford. asking him to show up with a folder of accolades he’s been accumulating over the last year, he asked no questions. 

And as it turned out, Waterford – who was blown away upon learning of Hernandez’ astronomical showing of integrity when he returned a stranger’s wallet to him containing $2,000 in cash last Christmas – followed suit. 

The Manteca businessman was responsible for $10,004 of the $90,340 raised by the two-day community event. With ties to the Boys and Girls Club of Chicago in his past, Waterford – who has donated generously to the organization in recent years – put his money where his mouth was when he talked about the benefits that he sees in programs that provide positive role models in the lives of children. 

Hernandez, who spent his summer working at Waterford’s dealership learning the value of a dollar and now says he has a much deeper appreciation for the feeling the man who lost that wallet must have felt when he realized it was gone, says that the right direction in his life at a young age helped him make the right decision when nobody else was around to tell him what to do otherwise. 

“I grew up going to church and the pastor always talked about integrity and character and doing the right thing when nobody was watching,” Hernandez said. “My parents told me that there were going to be people that were always going to talk bad about me – that I should have kept the money and went and bought something for myself – but that making the right decision always pays itself back in the end. I’ve got a letter from the President of the United States of America – that’s how far this has traveled.

“I think that a lot of people look at me like somebody that did the right thing, and I try and live up to that each day.”

Those that know little to nothing about the organization, like Manteca Kohl’s Associate Stefanie Cervantes, say that it only takes one look around the bustling phone bank to see how its impact on the community stretches far and wide. 

While Cervantes never attended the club and doesn’t know of any friends with any lasting impressions from it, getting to participate in something that has become a community event rather than a single fundraiser, she said, tells the story. It shows that people of Manteca care about kids and the non-profits that exist to offer them a solid foundation. 

“I know that afterschool programs don’t solve every single problem that a child faces, but they help in giving them a better option and helping to keep them out of trouble,” Cervantes said. “I think that when you’re talking about a place like the Boys and Girls Club people are more than willing to go out of their way to help because we’re talking about helping the next generation that’s coming up and the one after that – it’s important.”