Be the Change – Matt Plotkin

Thursday, November 8, 2018, is a date burned into the memories of many North State residents. On that day the Camp Fire ravaged the town of Paradise, CA, claiming thousands of homes and 85 lives. Matt Plotkin, the youth ministries director at Bidwell Presbyterian Church in Chico at that time, saw the dark plume of smoke and immediately reached out to warn friends of the danger. By 1 pm, Matt had phone-coached a colleague how to shelter in place in Paradise and helped transform Bidwell’s student facilities into a resource center connecting fire survivors with church members offering help.

Matt and his wife Rebecca enjoy time on their Chico area ranchita.

Over the next days, Matt threw himself into the church’s pop-up shop for survivors and watched as donations, volunteers and state and federal aid poured in. “It dawned on me pretty early that somebody needed to coordinate all these efforts,” Matt remembers. To kickstart coordination, he invited relief volunteers to a meeting one week after the fire. The turnout surprised him. Over 90 representatives from businesses, faith-based groups, Chico city staff, American Red Cross and a host of other organizations arrived, all looking for ways to help Camp Fire survivors. To better meet the challenges ahead, the group committed to regularly collaborating. “We didn’t realize it at the time,” Matt says, “but FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) representatives later told me we had created a long-term recovery group.”

Matt began researching long term recovery groups and setting a course for how the Camp Fire Long Term Recovery Group (CFLTRG) would support survivors in their immediate needs as well as in the months and years beyond the initial crisis. In March, as Matt realized he could not sustainably divide his attention between his church responsibilities and his work with CFLTRG, he stepped away from Bidwell to apply as the CFLTRG executive director. After interviewing with other candidates, he accepted the directorship in April 2019.

Before the fire, Matt had worked with nonprofit organizations and Christian youth ministry for 20 years. Although his new position affords significantly fewer nights of dodgeball and sugar-infused fun, Matt sees similarities between working with youth and working with CFLTRG. Both involve serving others, establishing relationships of trust and “herding cats,” a term he laughingly uses to describe connecting diverse volunteers with diverse needs. Although he never intended to become the head of a newly established non-profit, Matt says he naturally gravitates toward identifying and solving problems. He explains that once he “understood what was needed in our county, it made sense to become part of that.” Cari Jenkins, Matt’s former supervisor from a ministry position in Moraga, CA, agrees. “When hurricane Katrina happened, Matt organized a trip to take volunteers to the disaster site. His passion, heart, and gift for helping with disasters were so clear that I was not surprised at all when he stepped in to work with efforts after the fire.”

Their dear friend, 15-year-old Nate, enjoys helping with Ethel and Lucy, frisky Nigerian Dwarf Goats. To learn more about what CFLTRG can do for fire survivors, visit campfirelongtermrecovery.org.

Matt’s wife Rebecca has been one of his “biggest champions,” both before and after the fire. The couple met at a poker game hosted by mutual friends at church and has been married nearly 12 years. During their downtime, Matt and Rebecca enjoy spending time together and with friends, hiking in Upper Bidwell and Lower Bidwell parks and tending to the chickens and goats at their “ranchita” in Chico.

Sierra Grossman served as CFLTRG co-chair with Matt during the organization’s hectic first months. “Matt is authentic in every interaction he has,” Sierra says. “He is steadfastly solution-oriented, has genuinely dedicated himself to encouraging others to be the best version of themselves, and always has a smile on his face.”

The smile often comes from Matt’s joy in serving others, a trait he inherited from his parents and grandparents while growing up in San Diego, CA. “Both sets of grandparents were very others-oriented,” he recalls. “They and a number of my youth pastors put their words into action and lived out their faith in real, tangible ways. They helped me understand what it means to love your neighbor as yourself.” Consequently, he believes in “leveraging your talents” to benefit others on a large or small scale. “You can make a difference for one person—your neighbor, sibling, spouse. Making a difference isn’t necessarily about the quantity of people.” As in his own story, Matt notes that sometimes making a difference starts unintentionally, but that the next steps involve “observation, asking questions, and then deciding if you’re going to follow through.”

The mission of our be the change column is to feature community members from the North State who are actively making a difference in community life. If you would like to nominate someone who is making a difference, please write to pn@northstateparent.com.