Cape man honors parents’ memory, helps others through community service

Honoring his father and mother’s memory is what inspires Matthew Page to give back to Southwest Florida.

“They would have helped people, especially during this time…this is for them,” he said.

Gene and Mary Page died when he was 16 and a sophomore at Estero High School.

“My mom [died of] lung cancer and dad of a heart attack, but we believe it was a broken heart,” Page said.

The Cape Coral man said the loss of both of his parents left him feeling alone in some senses, and it inspired him to create the non-profit “Page Boys Foundation, Inc.” 11 years after their deaths.

“My goal is to help kids who’ve lost their parents grieve. I didn’t have that many to help me, so I want to be there to help them,” Page said.

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Page couldn’t host events to bring together grieving individuals, but he found a new purpose for his non-profit during the pandemic: collecting and delivering donations to local healthcare workers.

“Hearing about hospitals being jam-packed…let’s help the community and help our nurses,” he said.

Page said he delivered food and other thank you’s to the Gulf Coast Hospital staff every weekend in April. One weekend, he and his board put together special gift bags for nurses encouraging them to pamper themselves.

“They don’t have time to go out and have lunch, or to pamper themselves,” Page said.

He said the gratitude from people he helps is rewarding, and so is knowing he’s carrying on his parents’ community service and their memory.

Page encourages anyone experiencing grief or wanting to help his efforts to contact him at mpage@pageboysfoundationinc.com.

He said to monitor the non-profit’s social media pages for upcoming events and community service opportunities.