Bishop Kelly Rallies Funds, Support for Beloved Former Staff Member

Students, faculty, staff and alumni at Idaho's Bishop Kelly High School are coming together to support one of the school's most beloved staff members.

Kenny Matthews, who served on the school's custodial staff for over 30-years, is a local legend. Known for his love/hate relationship with gophers on the Bishop Kelly campus, hunting great beasts in the wild, funny quips and signature archery skills, the outpouring of support for Kenny and his wife Bev this week has been profound.

While Kenny has been retired for about 3-years now, upperclassmen along with thousands of past students and staff all share very fond memories of Kenny Matthews who so often was the heart and soul of the Bishop Kelly hallways and greater community.

Bishop Kelly's Alumni Facebook page shared the following:

Kenny and Bev Matthews are facing a challenging situation that requires our support. Kenny is currently in a memory care facility that provides the specialized care he needs, but this comes at a significant cost of approximately $3,000 per month. We are aiming to raise $36,000 through this GoFundMe to pay for a year of Kenny's care.  Your generosity will help ease their burden and ensure that Kenny continues to receive proper care.

If there's one thing that every student at BK would remember--it is the school's annual homecoming bonfire. The mountain of wood pallets and more would be built in the parking lot ahead of the homecoming football game and once the game was over, it was Kenny Matthews that would start the party.  From across the parking lot, Kenny would fire off a flaming arrow from his bow, igniting not only BK's massive bonfire but the energy from hundreds of students at the same time.

Kenny's warm smile and hallway greetings made most students' experience at Bishop Kelly significantly brighter. Whether you were having a rough day and needed a smile or just a good laugh, Kenny was always there.

This deep love for Kenny isn't unique to the author writing this--who just happens to have known and loved Kenny during his time at Bishop Kelly--but has shown to be unanimous.

So much love has been shown by the outpouring of support--not only financially, but on social media where folks have posted up messages of love, hope, and their favorite Kenny memories!

Now live on GoFundMe, is a crowdfunding campaign for Kenny, which at the time of publishing this article, is just shy of 40% achieved.

If you're interested in contributing or sharing, you can see the campaign for yourself, HERE.