citizen of the year

CITIZEN OF THE YEAR
PROFILES 2016
Steve Mataro, with DSW Homes, is The
Daily News’ Citizen of the Year for his
support for numerous community causes. His extensive volunteer efforts have
garnered attention and awards. His office
walls are covered with various plaques.
82 | Saturday, April 16, 2016
The Galveston County Daily News
CITIZEN OF THE YEAR
PROFILES 2016
CITIZEN OF THE YEAR
• STEVE MATARO •
DSW’s Mataro has long history of giving back to the community
Story by Sara Yonker | Correspondent
Photos by Jennifer Reynolds | The Daily News
S
teve Mataro was 8 years old and
living in the New Jersey housing
projects, but not the worst-off
kid he knew. That was perhaps his
next-door neighbor, a girl with muscular dystrophy. When New Jersey icon
Jerry Lewis launched a benefit to raise
money for muscular dystrophy, Mataro
went door to door in his humble
neighborhood, knocking on doors and
collecting spare change to donate to
the charity in the girl’s honor.
“That is where it began, when I first
said, ‘This is bigger than me,’” he said.
“I got motivated. There was an incentive to help people on a spiritual level.
I realized that even as a kid in the
projects, you can make a difference.”
In more than four decades since,
Mataro has continued to help his
neighbors. As a child, he trick-ortreated for spare change to donate to
UNICEF, and as a teenager, built handicap ramps with spare materials from
his construction job. His tireless volunteering now focuses on a variety of
causes that benefit education, youth,
community and business. Mataro, 53,
is The Galveston County Daily News’
Citizen of the Year.
Mataro came to Galveston in October 2009, slightly more than a year
after Hurricane Ike’s catastrophic landing, which left thousands of buildings
and homes in Galveston County in
need of repair.
He and his company, DSW Homes,
came to rebuild houses as part of a
federally funded community development block grant program on the
heels of a similar rebuilding project in
Beaumont. While it was the business
opportunity that brought him to Galveston County, it’s the people he met
that inspired him to make the area his
permanent home and the headquar-
The Galveston County Daily News
Steve Mataro, one of the owners of DSW Homes, talks about the county’s Salute to Veterans Program on Nov.
11, 2015, outside the home his company built for Dolores “Lolo” Velasquez in Texas City.
“I’m not really doing anything outside the norm.
Other people work harder than me. The big thing
is that I can set an example for my children. Isn’t
that what you’d like them to know about you? To
see you working hard for other people? Having
your kids see you in a good light is priceless.”
– Steve Mataro
ters for the business, he said.
He liked that, much like him, the
people in Galveston were making the
best of a bad situation. Their houses and city were damaged, but they
weren’t giving up, he said.
“What I noticed the most about
Galveston County was that people
were helping everyone else before
they were helping themselves,” he
said. “I’d start talking to them about
their houses, but they would say, ‘My
neighbor really needs this — they
have it worse than me.
“That’s why I jumped in with both
sleeves rolled up. I was excited to be
part of that.”
It’s that same selfless spirit that
Galveston County Judge Mark Henry
noticed about Mataro a few years later.
DSW Homes was initially licensed
with the county only to refurbish
homes, but was not on the approved
list for new construction. But when
Mataro went out with homeowners to
discuss improvement plans for their
homes, he kept putting their needs
before his business. He repeatedly
lost contracts because he’d tell homeowners their repairs couldn’t be fixed
within the repair budget and recommended rebuilding, costing himself
the contract, Henry remembers.
“After a while, he came to me and
said, ‘I’m being honest, and it’s costing
me all these jobs,’” Henry said.
The county approved DSW Homes
for new construction shortly afterward.
“In my experience, people are angry
at contractors all the time,” Henry
said. “With (Mataro), people want to
take their picture with him and hug
him. He takes really good care of the
homes he’s been assigned to rebuild.”
Mataro’s urge to help others isn’t
limited to his business. His volunteer
work in Galveston County is so extensive, even he finds it difficult to list all
the agencies he’s worked with in the
past six years.
He’s built gardens and supplied
books for Shriners Hospital for
Children, served on the boards of
Gulf Coast Big Brothers Big Sisters,
the Galveston Regional Chamber of
Commerce, and supported local Boy
Scouts, Girl Scouts and 4-H club. His
company, which he owns alongside
Jim Schumer and Donald Gerratt, also
repaired several nonprofit and church
buildings across the country and built
a domestic violence crisis shelter.
Mataro also volunteers for the Rotary Club, the Shriners, the Galveston
and Dickinson chapters of the Masons
and the Galveston police and fire departments.
That list isn’t anything unusual,
Mataro said.
“I’m not really doing anything
outside the norm,” he said. “Other
people work harder than me. The big
thing is that I can set an example for
my children. Isn’t that what you’d like
them to know about you? To see you
Saturday, April 16, 2016 | 83
CITIZEN OF THE YEAR
PROFILES 2016
Steve Mataro, center, with DSW Homes, and his staff honor the past with a donation to
the Juneteenth 150th anniversary and invest in the future with a matching donation to
Lemonade Day.
working hard for other people? Having your kids see you
in a good light is priceless.”
Shortly after arriving in
town, Mataro stopped by the
Galveston Regional Chamber
of Commerce, President and
CEO Gina Spagnola said. The
two became fast friends as he
worked not just to establish
DSW Homes as a reputable
hurricane recovery builder,
but as a community partner.
He’s served on the chamber’s
board of directors and has
worked alongside Spagnola
on several other organizations.
“He jumped into so many
nonprofits and he’s helped so
many people, but when he’s
working on your project, you
feel like you’re the only one
he’s volunteering for,” Spagnola said.
“He is that volunteer that
always shows up. He’s going to be present. He’s going
to give it his all. Volunteers
typically give of their time,
their talent or their money. He
gives of all of those. He’s not
just sitting there, taking up
a spot on a board to build a
résumé or have his name on
it. He cares.”
Through his work with the
chamber, Mataro became the
champion for the region’s
first Lemonade Day, an event
that teaches children about
entrepreneurship and business skills through operating
a lemonade stand.
“It encompasses so many
84 | Saturday, April 16, 2016
wonderful seeds that we
should plant in every kid that
we can,” Mataro said. “We
teach them how to save money, to understand the value of
money, how to take out a loan,
and developing people skills
to sell and talk to people.”
To fit in all his projects,
Mataro typically starts each
day at 4:30 a.m., first over-
viewing the day’s work for his
business and making sure to
visit active construction sites
to check on progress.
Many of the houses DSW
Homes rehabilitated belonged
to low-income families. The
houses often had been severely damaged by Hurricane Ike
and had been left in disrepair
for years. But Douglas Matthews noticed that Mataro
never treated homeowners
as if the value of their house
mattered.
“He always treated (his customers) as if they were very
important people,” Matthews
said. “He’s never forgotten his
background and he genuinely
cares for everyone.”
Mataro helped Matthews’
efforts to support Galveston’s Juneteenth celebration
and the Old Central Culture
Center, the site of Texas’ first
black high school.
“He doesn’t see color,”
Matthews said. “He just helps
where it’s needed.”
That knack for stepping up
and filling a need is how most
of Mataro’s volunteer work
begins. He’s an extrovert who
loves talking to people, and
when he learns about a need
someone has in casual conversation, tries to find a way
to solve it, he said.
Years ago, while living in
Dahlonega, Ga., he wanted to
give a chance to a young man
down on his luck. He placed
an advertisement seeking a
“young man on probation,
behind on child support,”
who needed work, offering
to give the applicant rides to
the job. He knew he struck
a nerve in the small community of roughly 6,000 people
when he had 80 phone calls
responding to the posting.
Helping out that first man
eventually led to him establishing a nonprofit group
Servant Builders, which gave
young men two years of job
training in construction while
also trying to instill life skills
and motivate them to also become people who give back
to their communities.
“I got more out of it helping them than any of them
ever got,” he said. “If I could
plant a seed in them so that
they could catch the bug, too,
and give back, then I’ve really
helped people.”
It’s no surprise that Mataro’s
extensive volunteer efforts
have garnered attention and
awards — his office walls are
covered with various plaques
and twice the city of Galveston has declared a Steve
Mataro Day in his honor.
But he said being named
the Citizen of the Year may be
the most important one he’s
received.
“Knowing that your community thinks you represent
them in a positive light is one
of the best things I can think
of,” he said. “My community
that I’m living in thinks that
I’m able to bring a positive
light to them. My hope out of
all of that is at the end of the
day, it sparks a seed to do the
same for someone else.”
Steve Mataro supports the
Galveston Regional Chamber of
Commerce’s Lemonade Day and
purchased a bus for it to use in
local parades and at events.
The Galveston County Daily News
CITIZEN OF THE YEAR
PROFILES 2016
DSW Homes, community builders.......
Not long ago, DSW Homes put an 86-year old Galveston Mataro is the face of the machine that with partners Jim
woman exactly where she most wanted to be — back in Schumer Donald Gerratt and 100 other “Rock Star” team
employees works together as one rebuilding homes for people
her home.
who have lost almost everything.
She had been using a portable toilet and camp stove for five
He recalled that when the company’s work was done, the
years. Hurricane Ike had wrecked her home in 2008.
woman’s power bills dropped from $500 a month to $70 — a
DSW put extra crews on the job to get her back in a newly big deal for a senior citizen on a fixed income.
restored home quickly.
DSW Homes came to Galveston after Hurricane Ike — and
“That’s what we do — take care of people in the disaster after some of the initial builders in the disaster recovery
recovery programs,” said Steve Mataro, one of company’s program had failed. Since then, the company had helped in
partners. “We came as a guest to this beautiful island and bringing over 3,000 families back into their new or rehabbed
this loving, embracing, caring community entrusted us with homes not just here in Galveston County but across other
its greatest asset — its people.”
parts of the Country that have been affected by a disaster.
For the past serveral years, the company has been Rated
No. 1 in the country in disaster recovery programs.
Mataro pointed to the company’s involvement in many
aspects in the community. It’s outreach ranges from the Old
Central Cultural Center to Big Brothers Big Sisters and most
recently SMART Family Literacy.
“We came here, wanting to be a good neighbor,” Mataro
said. “We were welcomed. The best part is, we’re just getting
started.”
National Corporate Location - Historic United States Custom House
502 20th St., Galveston, TX 77550 • 409-744-3400 • DSWHomes.com
The Galveston County Daily News
Saturday, April 16, 2016 | 85
GALVESTON COUNTY, TEXAS
Thursday, April 14, 2016 ★ THE DAILY NEWS ★A3
Jennifer Reynolds/The Daily News
LEFT: Steve Mataro, with DSW Homes, talks about giving back to the community
Wednesday after being named The Daily News’ Citizen of the Year. ABOVE: Sean
Doyle and Mary Ellen Doyle, with Texas First Bank, accept The Daily News’ Business
of the Year award Wednesday.
The Daily News names its Citizen of the Year
By SCOTT E. WILLIAMS
The Daily News
More than 125 people
— honorees, their friends
and family, Daily News
staff and other members of
the community — packed
the music hall of the Hotel Galvez on Wednesday
as The Galveston County
Daily News announced its
Citizen of the Year.
That honor went to Steve
Mataro, who brought his
CANDIDATES
Continued from page A1
discussions about whether
some offices or resources,
such as vehicle maintenance, can be combined.
But Mayor Jim Yarbrough, who supported all
those changes, said he also
wanted the park board to
remain independent.
“I don’t want to take over
the park board,” Yarbrough
said. “But we need to work
better together.”
Not every candidate at
the forum fielded the same
question. Three District
3 candidates were asked
whether they supported
creating a new committee
to direct spending of the
city’s convention center
surplus fund, money that
is similar to hotel taxes, but
is controlled by the city.
Candidate Frank Maceo
said he agreed with the
idea of creating a committee of tourism experts and
other interested groups to
help direct the funding.
“I’m behind anything
that would bring more
company, DSW Homes, to
Galveston in 2009, about a
year after Hurricane Ike
left many island homes in
need of the type of disaster recovery and custom
building in which DSW
specializes.
Mataro spoke of the
sense of community that
led him to make Galveston a home to him and to
DSW during the reception that honored him and
Business of the Year Texas
First Bank.
Also honored were people recognized as Everyday Heroes and Community Champions, plus area
students who received
scholarships named for
longtime Daily News publisher Les Daughtry, Sr.
Daughtry, a longtime
public champion of education, served as publisher
from 1967 to 1987. The
newspaper has awarded the scholarships since
1996 to area high school
students who work to
make their communities
better.
Among the scholarship
winners were Syamantak
Payra, a Clear Brook High
School sophomore who
was only 14 when he reconfigured a leg brace to
improve functionality for
a friend with polio. Also
honored were O’Connell
College Preparatory student Madeleine Mallia,
whose grandfather inspired her to work with
veterans, and Kia’rra Williams, who was unable to
attend because she was
showing her prize swine
at the Galveston County
Fair & Rodeo the same
evening.
The Daily News will
publish a full list of the
scholarship winners in
Sunday’s edition.
tourists to the island,” said
Maceo, who operates a
beach chair and umbrella
rental business on the Seawall beach.
District 3 incumbent
Ralph McMorris said city
council should keep control of the funds. Candidate Sean Cameron
suggested the park board
could decide how to spend
the money.
The Galveston Hotel and
Lodging Association includes more than 100 island
businesses and some of the
island’s largest employers.
District 1 Councilman
Tarris Woods and District
1 candidate Cornelia Harris Banks did not attend
the forum.
In her place, Banks sent
one of her supporters,
Galveston School Board
Trustee David O’Neal, to
read written statements in
response to some of the
questions.
Also absent was District 3
candidate Steve Kalbaugh,
who also is the chairman of
the Park Board of Trustees
and a former hotel general
manager.
On Wednesday evening,
Kalbaugh confirmed he
was no longer running.
Kalbaugh said he dropped
out in order to focus on
business obligations that
arose last month after the
closing of a business he
owned, The M&M Restaurant & Bar.
Early voting begins April
25. Election Day is May 7.
Contact reporter John
Wayne Ferguson at
409-683-5226 or john.
[email protected].
Follow him on Twitter, @
johnwferguson.
Contact Managing
Editor Scott E. Williams at
409-683-5247, or at scott.
[email protected]
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OPINION
Thursday, April 14, 2016 | The Daily News | B4
Contact Michael A. Smith, [email protected] Our View
An invitation to meet
some of the county’s best
T
his week, The Galveston County
Daily News turned the spotlight on
the best and brightest people in the
dozens of communities dotting our
landscape.
The annual Profiles event, produced and published by The Daily News, is the largest community celebration of its type in Galveston County.
Each year, our staff works with community
members to identify and recognize those who
represent the best of achievement and service.
From high school students preparing to head
off to college, to those who tirelessly give of
their time to help those in need, Galveston
County is indeed blessed.
In the special section, which appears Saturday
in The Daily News, you can read about almost a
dozen of your friends and neighbors who have
been honored for their efforts to make Galveston County and its many communities great
places to live.
These folks were nominated mostly by readers, and the stories of their good works and selfless devotion are always an inspiration to read.
This year for Profiles, we sent our reporters
and photographers out to answer questions
such as: What is “community?” In what forms
does it exist in the new millennium?
They made some surprising discoveries.
Additionally, Profiles recognizes a business
and an individual that represent high ideals.
This year we were pleased to share the story
of Texas First Bank, a homegrown, all-American story if there ever was one. Founded right
here in Galveston County, the Doyle family has
instilled character, hard work and a generous
commitment to their community into everything they do.
The respect they’ve earned is well-deserved
and demonstrates true leadership can still be
taught through example. Whether it is their
deep involvement in such community organizations as the Salvation Army or playing a critical
role in helping to bring new businesses to the
community, Texas First Bank and the Doyle
family are a tremendous part of our community.
And speaking of leadership through example,
the Citizen of the Year goes to another individual who believes in rolling up his sleeves and
helping those in need during their darkest of
times.
Steve Mataro, partner with DSW Homes in
Galveston, came to the island after Hurricane
Ike. At a time when people were trying to pick
up the pieces of their lives, Mataro and his team
worked to restore the lives of thousands of residents by quickly and courteously putting people
back in their homes.
But as the damage from Hurricane Ike became a thing of the past, Mataro began pouring
his efforts into helping people in need through
donations of time and resources. From repairing the collapsing roof of a nearby school, to
helping promote Lemonade Day Galveston — a
project dedicated to helping young students
learn to launch and run their own businesses
— Mataro always has his sleeves rolled up for
Galveston County. And for the countless lives
he’s touched, this is a good thing.
We proudly salute the individuals behind all
the good with which our community is blessed.
With each comes an important contribution
that makes Galveston County a special place to
call home.
• Leonard Woolsey
Progressives continue to belittle gun
owners, hunters and conservatives
T
he pine trees, oak
trees, magnolias;
we loved them all.
We explored for hours on
end: the creek bottoms, the
pin oak flats and the small
stands of yaupon below.
Sometimes these were
hunting trips — sometimes
just exciting trips of exploration.
We were young then,
maybe 9 to 10 years old; I
do not remember our exact
age, but I do remember
the lessons learned that
day. This particular day
my younger brother and I
carried our long guns.
We were hoping to get
a mess of squirrels for
supper that evening and
another skinning lesson
from Grandpa. We were
no doubt considered “city
slickers” by our East Texas
cousins but we were successful that day. We were
walking the dirt road when
we saw Grandpa in his old
Guest column
George
Graces
lives in
Santa Fe.
truck coming to pick us up.
We were so excited to show
Grandpa our squirrels and
talk of the hunt.
When Grandpa jumped
from the truck and hurried toward us — we
sensed trouble. He jerked
my gun from my hand
and examined it and then
my brother’s. His look of
disappointment cut me like
a knife and unsettled my
stomach. I did not know
what was wrong.
“Young man these guns
are not only loaded they
are also off safety,” Grandpa
said. “Look at the squirrels.
This could be you or me.”
The rest of the day was
a humiliating experience.
Grandpa drove us all over
town and related the story:
the barber, the gas station
attendant, the grocer. It
seemed Grandpa knew
everyone in town and they
all wagged their head at
us in disappointment and
disgust.
We eventually received
our skinning lessons and
squirrel and dumplings;
Grandpa told us he was
proud of our harvest. The
humiliation faded but the
lessons never have.
When I was young, the
fate of the animals that my
grandparents raised were
sad to me but I came to
realize that whether you
buy it at a store or have
the backbone to harvest
it yourself — death is still
death. I was taught; we only
kill what we use.
These and many other
experiences taught me the
thin line between life and
death and how related they
are.
So as many — so called
— liberal progressives continue to belittle gun owners,
hunters, conservatives and
traditional Americans and
portray them as ignorant
and intolerant; look closely
and see who the truly
intolerant and ignorant are;
as they enjoy their steak
dinners, pork chops and
chicken sandwiches — you
tell me who the hypocrites
are.
They look down on the
real work — but enjoy the
harvest. My grandparents
may not have had much of
a formal education but they
had a Ph.D. in real life.
So if you want a look into
a traditional American way
of life come out to the Galveston County Livestock
Show and Rodeo and enjoy
the people and the animals.
Reminders as the
income tax filing
deadline nears
A
little-known holiday, Emancipation
Day, falls on April 15 this year. Therefore, procrastinators are getting three
extra days to file their 2015 tax return, until
April 18.
There are not many things you can do at
this point to reduce your tax burden for tax
year 2015. One exception is that one can
contribute up to $6,500 to an IRA retirement
account by April 18 and take a deduction for
tax year 2015. Below are a few other reminders to consider:
• File your tax return and
pay any taxes due by April 18.
Even if you cannot pay any
tax amount due, file your tax
return anyway. By filing, you
avoid the substantial failureto-file penalty. This penalty
can be up to 25 percent of
the total amount the taxpayer
owes. There is also a failureto-pay penalty, however, it is
significantly less.
Melvin
• If your tax return shows
Williams is
a tax amount due, include a
a CPA and
payment for as much as you
professor at
can, by the deadline. This
College of
approach will minimize the
the Mainamount of interest due on
land.
any unpaid taxes. The interest
clock starts counting on April 18.
• If you are out of time in the gathering
of your information needed to file your tax
return by the deadline, file a Form 4868
(Automatic Extension of Time to File). If the
form 4868 is filed by April 18th, you are given
a six-month extension of time to file (until
Oct. 15). It would be wise to send the Form
4868 by Certified Mail, with a Return Receipt Requested, in case of proof of mailing is
requested by the IRS.
• If your tax return shows a tax amount
due, and you are unable to pay in full, consider filing a Form 9465 (Installment Agreement
Request). This agreement allows one to pay
any remaining balance in monthly installments. The IRS charges a fee of $50 to $100
for setting up an Installment Agreement.
These forms can be obtained at www.irs.gov.
• This is good time to review your payroll
withholdings for next year. The IRS’s goal is
for the taxpayer to break even in terms of tax
withholdings versus tax liability (i.e. when
filing, the taxpayer would ideally get a small
refund or pay a small amount of additional
taxes). Consider a visit to your payroll office
and make adjustments to your W-4 form, if
you are under or over withholding by significant amounts.
• Claim your best filing status. Research
the requirements for the five filing statuses.
Knowing all of the filing requirements not
only ensures compliance with the law, but
may save you money as well. Do not take
your filing status for granted. For example:
A Married or Single taxpayer may qualify (if
certain conditions are met) to file as Head
of Household, which is generally the most
advantageous filing status.
Guest
Column
There are not many things
you can do at this point to
reduce your tax burden for
tax year 2015. One exception
is that one can contribute
up to $6,500 to an IRA
retirement account by April
18 and take a deduction for
tax year 2015.
The Daily News Editorial Board
Leonard Woolsey
Publisher
[email protected]
Michael A. Smith
Editor
[email protected]
Dave Mathews
Managing Editor-Design
[email protected]
Anthony Oppermann
Sports Copy Editor
[email protected]
Seames O’Grady
Copy Editor
[email protected]