As part of March as Women’s History Month, Senator Lena Gonzalez awarded Pastor Juanita Matthews a 2022 Woman of the Year award during a ceremony at the El Dorado Senior Center on Saturday, March 26.
Gonzalez said the annual award is based on nominations of ”inspiring women of distinction and service” from those she represents in California Senate District 33, which includes the cities of Long Beach and Signal Hill.
Each female legislator annually chooses a woman of the year from her constituents and Matthews was “overwhelmingly” nominated by “many residents” of Signal Hill and Long Beach, including the Signal Hill city manager, Gonzalez said.
“She gets to be literally in our history books,” Gonzalez said, explaining that the California Legislative Women’s Caucus (CLWC), which sponsors the award, keeps a book with the names of all awardees from each senate and assembly district since 1987.
Gonzalez commended Matthews for helping “take care of the community during times of grief” over the past two pandemic years, both as an assistant pastor at the Prevailing in Christ Ministries in Carson and cofounder of the nonprofit Springs of Hope Grief-Care Center in Long Beach.
Matthews expressed thanks for the recognition of her work and said she hopes the community will take advantage of Springs of Hope’s services since it has now reopened at 3515 Linden Ave. following the pandemic.
“We work with families, we walk with families that are going through grief and that are going through hopeless times and we give hope,” Matthews said. “This hope that we have is an anchor for the soul. It’s our joy, it’s our honor, it’s our pleasure to give that hope to others.”
Matthews noted that people can be reluctant to seek help during times of grief since it means exposing their emotions, but that can be a path to healing.
“We are a safe place and we want people to be well,” she said, adding that the center helps families “find purpose in their pain.”
Maleka Chris, founder of the nonprofit Love Beyond Limits in Long Beach—which provides educational opportunities for local youth—told the Signal Tribune that the work Matthews does at Springs of Hope is needed in the community, especially as the pandemic continues to linger.
“Not only adults, but our youth are suffering,” Chris said. “Grief with death in the family, death in the community—just tragedy continuing to happen in our community.”
Chris added that while having more people like Matthews would help, supporting Springs of Hope in the meantime through volunteering or donating would help Matthews “continue to be an asset to the community.”
Matthews experienced extreme personal grief herself, losing her son and three grandchildren to murder in 1992, according to a statement by Gonzalez announcing the award.
Matthews’ husband Larry, with whom she co-founded Springs of Hope following the loss of their son and grandchildren, passed away in 2019.
Matthews also lost her nephew Ron Settles in 1981, who died while in Signal Hill police custody in a widely publicized case. She and her family and friends hosted a memorial service last June honoring Settles’ memory 40 years later.
She was also instrumental last November in getting Signal Hill to create an annual Ron Settles Day of Remembrance on June 2—the day the 21-year-old was arrested and died within three hours of police custody.
“Juanita Matthews is a shining light of hope and optimism, and her belief in who we can be as a community has not wavered despite her personal losses,” Gonzalez said in the award statement. “She is a joyful, warm woman who welcomes all into her circle, and her commitment to doing her part to making our world a better place is truly inspiring.”
Gonzalez said that if pandemic health concerns abate over the next year, the CLWC would more formally honor all woman of the year awardees since 2020, when ceremonies had to be canceled.
In the meantime, several of Matthews’ colleagues, friends and family members attended the intimate ceremony in a gazebo on the lawn of the El Dorado Senior Center on Saturday morning and expressed pride in her honor.
Those included Carolyn Bell, executive director of the charitable Long Beach Bar Foundation; Minister Barbara Kimber from Matthews’ church; and psychologist Sandra Hardy, founder of the Center for Best Living in Bixby Knolls, who collaborates with Matthews on grief and wellness work.
“When she’s honored, we’re all honored,” Hardy said.
Matthews’ brother Ernest Strong said the award means a lot to family members, who were “surprised and elated” to learn of the honor.
“We’re just so proud of Juanita and her accomplishments,” Strong said. “She continues to work in the community all the time. This is truly an honor for her and all of us.”
