When dentist Michael Matthias, AS '89, phoned the University to see what dental plans it offers to employees, the woman who answered the phone was so helpful that he told her he wished he had contributed to his alma mater over the years.
That night, when he told his wife, Sharon Allen Matthias, AS '90, about the call, reiterating that he wished he had contributed over the years, she said, "Well, I have been.''
Sharon Matthias had been sending donations to the University for years, in amounts that grew as the couple's income did.
She says she would occasionally ask her husband about donating, too, but his answers were the same as those she had heard when working earlier in an alumni/development office of a New Jersey college.
"It just made me laugh to hear the same things from Mike that I would hear from people at work: 'I'm still paying off my student loans,' he would say, and I'd respond, 'That's true, but you spend $5 on lunch every day, don't you?' ''
Michael Matthias says a scholarship he received helped him while at Delaware, so he wanted to give back.
"By walking out of Delaware with very little debt, I was able to weather the debt of dental school and put myself in a position where I was able to open up a practice a little earlier,'' he says.
Michael Matthias is offering a Blue Hen Bleaching Special to UD faculty, staff, students and alumni. The offer provides $50 off the regular fee, and he will also donate $50 to the Allen-Matthias scholarship fund. Matthias will donate an additional $50 to the fund for each UD patient who becomes a regular patient. For more information or to take advantage of the Blue Hen Bleaching Special, call his Greenville, Del., office at (302) 575-0100 or visit [www.yourdentistrytoday.com].
"I always thought I wanted to give back to Delaware, but I didn't think I could do it while we still had bills," he says.
In November, when he expanded his West Chester, Pa., general family dentistry practice to include an office in Greenville, he says it brought back a flood of good memories from the time the couple spent together at the University.
It was then that he decided his wife had been right, and the couple established the Allen-Matthias Honorary Scholarship, in honor of their parents--Charles and Carol Allen of Allentown, N.J., and George and Eleanor Matthias of Camp Hill, Pa.--who had supported them through college.
His view: "I always had the thought that you wait until everything is paid off and then give back, but the education I received at Delaware put me in a position to be able to open a second practice, and we thought this was a great way to recognize the University."
The Allen-Matthias scholarship will recognize a student from New Jersey or Pennsylvania who majors (preferably) in political science (her major) or biology (his major) and who works during the school year or in the summer.
"Mike and I both worked throughout our college years--summers, in addition to working on campus during the regular semesters--so we thought that was important,'' she says.
"I am very fortunate that I also received the support I received from my family," she says, "and I think there are deserving students who maybe don't have that kind of family support. How could we not help if it's possible to help?"
"I think of the scholarship as a little help for someone who is probably working very hard,'' Matthias says.
The Matthias family lives in West Chester, Pa., and includes a son, Jared, and a daughter, Alexa.
-- Kathy Canavan