Thanks to good Samaritan Matthew Bartlett, Pomeroy Elementary School in Santa Clara has become a popular hangout for local birds that visit the eight birdhouses he custom-made for the campus.
Audrey Hinton, Garden Coordinator/Teacher at Pomeroy Elementary School, is always on the lookout for ways to enhance the ongoing greening of the campus, where asphalt has been transformed to natural landscapes.
Hinton saw a couple of Bartlett’s birdhouses at a Santa Clara High School (SCHS) fundraiser and knew they would be perfect for Pomeroy’s evolving ecosystem. Although she wanted eight, she had PTA funds for only three. So Bartlett donated five.
“We were so impressed with his generosity. It blew me away when he told us,” said Hinton. “A community member who would help a school like this.”
“Making the birdhouses was fun,” said Bartlett. “Audrey has such enthusiasm. Anybody who’s working in the right direction should be given help along the way. I wanted to be part of Audrey’s Pomeroy crew.”
“Habitat loss is reducing the bird population. A garden has more benefits than just looking pretty,” he added.
Bartlett’s birdhouses are made from repurposed wood and other materials. Put up last January, they are designed for bird safety, sitting on poles that rise eight feet from the ground. A back panel opens for cleaning. Each one is numbered and some have special adornments, such as a “Paw Patrol” figure on the birdhouse by the kindergarten room.
But Bartlett, a San Jose native and resident, is not just for the birds. He is a skilled woodworker who has designed and built a variety of unique wood items, some for his family, some for sale and additional ones that he has donated.
A realtor commissioned him to make a replica of the house her client was selling.
A table he made for special family dinners—it seats ten—can be broken down and stored in the garage. It is made of bed rails and other scrap lumber Bartlett picked up during Santa Clara’s annual cleanup month a few years back. The table pedestals are old fence posts.
Bartlet is concerned about waste.
“How much garbage is there?” he said. “A ridiculous amount. Everyday, good things are getting wasted, and this issue is hardly addressed.
“Over the years, what I do has evolved into making things out of junk/garbage, and the City of Santa Clara has been very helpful with that, along with other sources of waste.”
Bartlett made bike trailers for delivering farm boxes of fresh fruit and vegetables for the non-profit Veggielution, which delivered the produce by bike. He repaired a picket fence for the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, using discarded wood pallets from a motorcycle dealership.
Bartlett learned woodworking from his dad in his basement shop and took wood and sheet metal classes at Herbert Hoover Middle School in San Jose. He retired from the IT (information technology) field and volunteers in the SCHS woodshop. He is treasurer of the Bruin Country Woodturners, a nonprofit that educates SCHS students in the art and craft of wood turning.
“Matthew strikes me as a rare good Samaritan, doing his part to help his community,” said Hinton. “He is generous and humble.”
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