Pipestone Flyer
Being blessed with healthy children and grandchildren, Leduc County utility worker Sel Matthews has been showing his gratitude by raising money for the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton.
Last November, Matthews started growing a beard with a promise to shave it off if friends, family and coworkers chipped in cash for the children’s hospital. “I just do it to help the kids out,” he said. “For the health of my kids and the grandkids, I’ve been blessed. I’ve never had to use them.”
This is the fifth or sixth time the 19-year employee of the County has grown a beard only to shave it off five years later. “I’ve had it burned off three times, singed and tarred,” said the father of two and grandfather of four.
At a shaving ceremony in the foyer of the Leduc County Building in Nisku April 8, County Mayor John Whaley took the clippers to Matthews shaggy purple beard and agreed the County would match the $3,100 Matthews had raised on his own. “It’s a worthy cause, well worth supporting,” he said.
“This is a good place to work. You really can’t beat the people you work with,” said Matthews. “I’d like to thank everybody who helped me and donated.”