Matteson Gives Where He Received

By Tom Morrow, Staff Writer, North County Times

For the past 21 years, Luke Matteson has spent hundreds of hours volunteering his time and energy on the Carlsbad boys & Girls Club board of directors, as well as coaching area girls basketball and volleyball teams.

Matteson grew up in Oceanside where he and his brother were members of the Oceanside Boys & Girls Club. "My parents divorced in the early 70s, so the Club was a place where we could hang out, learn how to do things in wood shop," Matteson explained. "It was a safe place to be after school and on weekends."

A 1978 graduate of El Camino High School, Matteson has worked most of his adult life in Carlsbad. He is a career banker and a well-known executive in the North County business community.

"I actually live in Vista, but I've always worked in Carlsbad, beginning with he La Jolla Bank & Trust Company," he said. "When Greg Nelson of the club's board of directors invited me to join him back in 1986, I've never looked back."

Matteson says that over the years, he's spent just bout the same amount of time volunteering as a coach and mentor as he has being a member of the board. "Some 20 years ago, the Village branch on Roosevelt was in disrepair," Matteson recalled. "The club had no reserve funding, and we often made the payroll for the staff by passing a hat at board meetings." He said working behind the scenes gave him great insight of the needs on both the club and the kids.

Those were in the 1990s, a time Matteson recalled as "the lean years." Then, Matteson was elected board president. "I made it my personal goal to turn things around before my six-year tenure as board president was over," he said. "We did it, too -- with a $1 million remodel in 1999. Today, the club boasts a state-of-the-art computer lab, the facilities are well maintained, and the building is bursting with happy kids. I'm proud of our accomplishments." He said there are at least 200 youngsters served on a daily basis at the Carlsbad Village facility.

With 21 years under his belt as a board member, he's taken on his biggest challenge yet: raising $8 million to build a new clubhouse in Bressi Ranch, a large, upscale subdivision southeast of Palomar Airport Road and El Camino Real. "We're about halfway to our (financial) goal," Matteson said. "The Bressi Ranch developer has donated the land, so it's up to us to raise the money to build the facilities. We just need $4 million more."

But Matteson does more volunteering beyond raising money and coaching for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Carlsbad. He's also a girls basketball and volleyball coach for the Vista Parks and Recreation Department. And although two of his three daughters are involved in sports, being a volunteer coach and fundraiser started long before. "I got into this work 10 years before my kids were born," he said.

Matteson's day job is executive vice president for the Carlsbad branch of the Temecula Valley Bank. "I have an 8-to-5 job with weekends off, so I can devote time to mentoring and coaching the kids, as well as help raise money for their club," he said.