Moorestown Natives Help Students, Schools Amid Pandemic

MOORESTOWN, NJ — It was the spring of 2020, and Lisa Reid Matos’ children were engaged in remote learning due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Lisa, who lives in Chicago with her husband, Joey, and their two children, were easily able to adjust their schedules to help their kids.

The school district had provided their kids, ages 5 and 8 years old, with laptops, and while it was a big adjustment, it was nearly seamless.

Nearly 800 miles away in New York, Matos’ childhood friend who was now a teacher saw a different reality, in which children were doing their homework on the back of their junk mail.

“I looked at other parents who were juggling their schedules, and they didn’t have the same options we did,” Matos said. “I was trying to figure out what I could do to help.”

Matos reached out to another childhood friend, Dana Knowlton Filippoli, and the idea for Stand Up For Students was born.

“Our original idea was around school supplies and jacket drives,” Matos said. “After talking to principals, we had to pivot from that.”

They quickly discovered that other groups were taking care of those needs. What school districts really required was help with STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics).

So Matos, Filippoli — a marketing communications executive — and others who have volunteered to work with them shifted their focus to providing STEAM-focused educational opportunities.

“One school district was trying to re-establish itself as a STEAM school, and they wanted to supply books to their students,” Matos said. “We bought all the books for them.”

Currently, they are focused on the Chicago-area, but Matos would love to expand the program. This includes bringing it back home.

Matos and Filippoli grew up together. They went to pre-school together in Mount Laurel, and graduated from Moorestown High School in 1994. Matos’ mother, Diane Reid, was very involved in the township.

When Matos got a job working for a large food company, though, she found herself being transferred to Chicago. That’s where she met, fell in love with, and married her husband. The two traveled around the country together before returning to Chicago and starting their family.

When the pandemic hit, they started their charity. Stand Up For Students was established over the summer that just passed. They launched a website, and began taking donations.

Matos said it has been tough to get into some districts, either because they are skeptical or because they are unable to help those districts meet their needs, for now.

“A lot of what we have accomplished has been through networking and word of mouth,” Matos said. “Our strength is our personalization.”

They also ensure the principals know there is an open line of communication. They can always reach out with the ideas and their needs, even though some of it may be out of the charity’s means.

“Technology might seem like a simple ask, but there is a lot of expense that goes into that,” Matos said. “We have to weigh what we can do now against what could be a future project.”

All that the charity has done has been paid for by donations, and everyone who is helping to run it is a volunteer. Matos said they intend to run the charity forever, and eventually expand to her home state.

“I would love to figure out how we can make an impact,” Matos said of the Garden State. “But we also have to be mindful of trying to do too much too soon. We still have a lot to learn.”

On its website, Stand Up For Students lists their goals as:

• Improving access to learning materials;
• Removing obstacles to equity in education;
• Promoting academic success for students in under-resourced environments;
• Supporting high-quality education despite budget challenges; and
• Lessening the impact of poverty on education.

Schools interested in participating, or anyone looking for more information, can email upforstudents@gmail.com.