'Plastic Claus' finds ways to help those in need

Some may know Steve Southland, 56, as the “Plastic Man” from his calls to B98 radio host Leah Lindsay. Around the holidays he becomes “Plastic Claus.”

“He would call in and always say ‘hi, this is Steve from Professional Plastics,’” Lindsay said. “He almost became like a regular character in my show — always funny and so kind.”

Southland, who lives in Evergreen with his wife Nichole and children Gage and Stevie, is an operations manager at Professional Plastics, a company that supplies raw plastic materials to businesses.

He started out as a fan of Lindsay, but that turned into a friendship when their two families randomly met in person nearly 20 years ago in the most unexpected place — Lamaze class. At the time, Southland’s wife and Lindsay were both pregnant.

Both shared the value of helping others in need.

Although Southland doesn’t like to draw attention to his good deeds, he realized that the radio could help him find people in need.

“Every year at Christmas he reaches out to me and says ‘I know you know people in need,’ and wants to know who to help,” Lindsay said. “He’s gone and paid someone’s power to turn it back on, or said ‘meet me, we’re going to go shop for a family.’ He doesn’t ever want or expect anything back.”

It isn’t just around Christmastime that Southland gives.

“It’s not that he’s made of a million dollars. He’s a humble man and works hard for everything he has,” Lindsay said, noting that giving is just his nature.

While not a rich man, he feels fortunate.

“I’ve got a wife that loves me, kids that love me and friends that love me. To be loved as much as you love is awesome,” he said.

Southland isn’t certain why he has a strong inclination to give. It may be that as a child he saw his mother help out neighbors in need.

“[It was] not really give, give, give. I grew up Navy. My dad was 30 years Navy” and would be gone nine months at a time during the Vietnam War era, he recalled.

“So from the time we were about 7 to about 15 Dad was hardly around and Mom took care of everything. And Mom was, you know, when next door is hurtin’ and didn’t quite make it to that next paycheck she was the one that was always going over and giving groceries or giving milk — things like that,” he said.

“You see that stuff as a little kid and you don’t really understand, you just see it,” Southland said.

“[As you get older you] realize the impact it has on people.”

Southland said he is thankful for the platform Lindsay and B98 have provided him.

“She’s rubbed off on me over the years with her goodness and kindness,” Southland said. “I’d find out she’s doing something for this family; I’d say ‘what can I do to help?’ She started getting me more involved and more involved.”

Several years ago some Evergreen youth didn’t make the cut on their high school basketball teams, so he and his wife bought uniforms, basketballs, hired a coach and formed a traveling basketball team called Kalispell Explosion. Now, Evergreen businesses help sponsor the team.

“I’m greatly appreciative of that and it’s not just me. I’ve got a lot of support. It just seems like the right thing to do,” he said.

The goal is to give kids an opportunity to play basketball and compete around the state while “keeping focused, on track and out of trouble.”

It’s not unusual to have a plus-one for dinner at the Southland home.

“If anybody’s hungry, you know, they can come over and we fix ’em something to eat,” Southland said.

He enjoys doing the cooking. When there are a lot of people the children’s favorite dish is a big pot of spaghetti made from scratch, but his favorite dish to make is crab cakes on a bed of fettuccine. He is also not afraid to experiment with food.

“The kids don’t like it when I experiment,” he said with a chuckle.

What makes all the giving worth it is the hope that someone’s situation will improve.

“When you go hand a lady $300 bucks because she’s totally upset she’s not going to be able to have Christmas for her kid, and [then] you see her and the excitement,” Southland said pausing, his voice wavering over sudden emotion, “Then that’s what makes it worth it. It’s all about the kids. I don’t think kids need to suffer because something the parents are going through or something that the parents don’t have control of.”

His reward is hoping that the joy and love he sees in his children’s faces on Christmas morning is reflected in those he’s helped.

“It warms your heart,” Southland said wiping his eyes.

It’s his way of spreading a little love and joy.

“There’s a lot of hate and meanness in the world today and you just have to kind of weed through it all, and if you look, you can see the beauty that’s out there,” he said. “And it’s out there.”

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.