Matthew Reynell earns RIT’s 2022 Four Presidents Distinguished Public Service Award

A quiet champion for Rochester’s youth facing homelessness, poverty, despair, and abandonment earned RIT’s annual award for faculty or staff who stand out for their community service. Matthew Reynell, assistant director of the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships, will receive the 2022 Four Presidents Distinguished Public Service Award at the Alfred L. Davis Public Service Awards Ceremony on April 5.

Created by vice president emeritus Alfred L. Davis, the award is presented annually to a member of the RIT faculty or staff whose public service and commitment to the Rochester community and beyond mirror the lives of the four presidents—Mark Ellingson, Paul A. Miller, M. Richard Rose, and Albert J. Simone—with whom Davis worked.

Reynell has been a dedicated volunteer to organizations including Children Awaiting Parents, the Center for Youth, Voice for Adoption, an annual holiday give-back program that RIT and his network contribute to, and local food cupboards. With Children Awaiting Parents, he is currently a board of directors member and has served as a member of the executive committee of the board of directors, committee chair for the Family Walk, and events committee co-chair. He helped construct, furnish, and raise funds for the Center for Youth’s Arnett House, which houses LGBTQ+ youth that would otherwise be homeless. He has helped spearhead clothing drives, Day of Caring volunteers, food collections, and holiday meal and gift donations for numerous charities.

After years of posting pictures on social media of his growing family of children and grandchildren drinking milkshakes in his home kitchen, friends would ask Reynell how they could become part of “The Milkshake Gang,” which inspired him to launch his own annual fundraiser. Setting up shop in his garage for the first time in 2019, his family now hosts an annual event offering drive-up milkshakes for charity, raising more than $3,000 and collecting food and other goods for Children Awaiting Parents, the Center for Youth, and the Veteran’s Home in Spencerport.

Gifts in Reynell’s name have been made to Children Awaiting Parents and the Center for Youth. Reynell said he was humbled by the award and hopes it can inspire others to take action locally.

“I’m only as good as the people I surround myself with, and my Division of Enrollment Management family and RIT’s generosity as a whole are just amazing,” said Reynell. “Rochester has a lot of nonprofit hidden gems, so my advice is to look for people doing things in our community and support them. If you can find something you’re passionate about, it can make all the difference in the world.”

For more information about the award, go to the RIT Government and Community Relations website.