Oprah Winfrey Cites Struggling Parents

The letter started simply:

“Dear Oprah, My dad is a chef and works very hard for us. He even cried because he can’t spend as much time with us as he wants to.”

The letter was addressed “To: Oprah Winfrey (her show),” and the back was inked with a heart and the words: “We hope God guides this letter to you.”

It went on from there with honest talk from two kids who know about doing without.

Written by Dominic and Tiffany Matlock, ages 8 and 11, the letter was enough to capture the heart of a network television producer.

As a result, Michelle and Shawn Matlock, 5924 N. A St., were chosen Parents of the Week by Oprah Winfrey and were featured on her show March 1.

The family watched the show from a hospital where Michelle was being treated for muscle sprains.

In addition to the two oldest Matlock children who authored the letter - “It was really Tiff’s idea,” concedes Dominic - the couple have three others: Antony, 6, Victor, 4, and Ridge, 1.

The three oldest are students at Westview Elementary.

The three boys share a bedroom, Shawn and Michelle have another bedroom, and Tiffany a third. The baby has a crib in the living room.

It’s such compromises that the family talks about openly.

Shawn, 31, is a chef and manager at Mattie’s Restaurant. His take-home pay is $1,500 a month plus what he can make by catering.

The family moved to Spokane from the Tri-Cities in 1993.

Michelle used to work in restaurants as well, and she managed a Red Lobster franchise before moving to Spokane.

But all the juggling of baby sitters persuaded her it was time to be a full-time mom.

“We have to cut back on absolutely everything,” she said. “It’s hard to make it on one income.”

They use the food bank and receive energy assistance for their $140 monthly utility bills.

Instead of buying things, the family concentrates on what’s important - being together.

“You know that every time you want to go to McDonald’s, you can’t just jump in the car and go,” said Michelle, 33, who admits signing up for seemingly every contest and free offer that ever existed.

Once a pay day, though, the family tries to do something special.

“The Garland (a $1 movie theater), of course, is the only theater we ever go to,” said Michelle. “If it wasn’t for the Garland, we wouldn’t see any movies.”

“My parents feel bad sometimes because they don’t have lots of money to get us stuff, but we have more than money could buy,” the two oldest kids wrote to Winfrey. “We have 2 wonderful, loving, caring gentel parents that love us with all their hearts.”

The couple had to undergo a felony background check before being featured on the show and provide references from friends, their pastor and employers.

“I said as long as its’s not a credit check, we’d be OK,” said Michelle.

A camera crew came out to film at their home on the evening of Feb. 21, and the next morning a producer from Chicago arrived at their North Side home. They spent most of the morning filming.

“We saw it in the hospital, which is typical of how our life is now - 1,000 miles per hour in a 50-mile zone,” said Shawn Matlock. Because they were at Deaconess Medical Center, the family still has no videotape of the show.

When the telegram arrived informing the parents they had been chosen, Shawn thought it was some kind of gimmick.

“Yeah, you’re Parents of the Week, but you have to cough up plane tickets to Chicago,” he thought.

Today, he realizes it was his kids and the family’s hard work that was paying off.

“Day in and day out, when you see something like that, you stop and think maybe you’re doing a good job,” he said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo