Monroe Central student teaches lesson in helping less fortunate
PARKER CITY — The holidays often bring out the good in people.Not so for Matt Garringer.
Garringer, a senior at Monroe Central Junior-Senior High School, is good year-round. He just happens to shine especially during the holidays.
As a freshman, he initiated the school’s Thanksgiving canned-food drive, and last month, he helped coordinate the Christmas fundraising drive. The money collected — a new record of $5,000 this year — was used to take Monroe Central Elementary School students Christmas shopping and out to lunch as a way to make the holiday special.
To the friendly, talkative Garringer, it’s a lot of work, but also something that needs to be done.
“It’s been not really pushed on me, but that’s how I’ve been taught,” he said.
Four years ago, the Thanksgiving food drive began after Garringer got a call from Farmland resident Jim Hitchcock. A friend and former coworker of Garringer’s mother, Hitchcock called the teen to tell him about the empty shelves at the Farmland Food Pantry.
As a member of the local Lions Club, the group that plays host to the pantry, Hitchcock wondered whether the students at Monroe Central could help fill the shelves.
“He just does a super job, and this year, I couldn’t believe how much food they brought us,” Hitchcock said. “He’s just a great kid. Anything you ask him, he does it, and if he doesn’t have time, he does it anyway.”
This year, the Thanksgiving food drive netted a record amount of food: 850 pounds.
“It filled up the whole back end of my truck,” Garringer said.
Garringer, 18, a Boy Scout who recently completed his Eagle Scout project, convinced other Boy Scouts to help him unload the food at the pantry inside the Lions Club building in Farmland.
He’s determined, yet the teen admits he has no idea what his future holds. He plans to go to college, and just recently narrowed down his list of possible schools — to 21.
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Indiana University East, Purdue University, Kettering University in Flint, Mich., Ball State University and Anderson University all are still on the list of options.
Asking him what he wants to do with his life is like spinning the roulette wheel. This week, the answer is biomedical engineering. A week ago, he said, his answer would have been aeronautics. A week before that — a conservation officer (his dad Rick’s occupation.)
“I just don’t know where I want to go,” Garringer said.
He joined the wrestling team this year, and also dresses as the Monroe Central Golden Bear mascot (oh wait, that’s supposedly a secret.)
“You have so much fun when they don’t know you,” Garringer said of unsuspecting fans.
It’s no secret though that his flips through the air are a little dangerous; he once accidentally kicked a fan who got in his way during a back flip, and another time, he got kicked by a cheerleader when he got in her way.
Principal Adrian Moulton described Garringer as a “great kid.” Last month, Garringer was one of several students lauded for his good work as a student of the month.
“He’s a lot of fun and very polite, not your typical teenager,” said his mother, Bev Garringer. “I know I’m more than blessed. I’m definitely blessed in that way. Everyone’s happy and having fun. He’s pretty special.”
Garringer said, “It’s one of those things, when-the-opportunity-arises type deal. I’m not a go-out-and-save-the-world type. It’s going out and doing what you can.”
Contact Henry and Randolph county reporter Joy Leiker at 213-5825.
By JOY LEIKER
jleiker@muncie.gannett.com
Special Thanks to The Star Press