From coins to community

If you have dropped coins, stuffed bills or swiped a credit card at a vending machine over the past three decades in Southern California, Arizona or Nevada, there’s a good chance you secured your snacks through the efforts of Matthew (’94) and Michelle Marsh (’93).

Since their San Diego State University student days, the couple — mostly Matthew at first — has worked to create a service empire stretching across much of the Southwest.

To that end, they recently made a gift to support SDSU’s Basic Needs Center Endowment. The center provides comprehensive resources for students facing food, housing, or financial insecurity. It also houses the Economic Crisis Response Team, a program that connects on- and off-campus resources with students experiencing immediate crises.

“We thought it was a great program,” Matthew says of their decision to support the center. “We like what everyone there is doing.”

Keeping Students on Track

SDSU Senior Director for Principal Gifts Tim Rice helped facilitate the couple’s relationship with campus and subsequent donation. He says Matthew and Michelle understand the many pitfalls that otherwise successful and hard-working students may encounter what could end their dreams of earning a college degree.

“Both Michelle and Matthew recognize the critical importance of a resource like the Basic Needs Center on campus,” Rice says. “They want to help us keep students on track to graduate and we are grateful for their generous gift.”

Matthew holds a degree in speech communication while Michelle earned a degree in psychology. For many years after graduation Michelle held a variety of social services positions, including working with autistic children, teaching parenting skills to developmentally delayed parents, and assisting victims of domestic violence.  

Michelle joined the company, then named First Class Vending, in 2017 and serves as its president, handling daily internal operations coordinating with managers, salespeople and customer representatives. As an admitted “people person,” her background provides insight that informs her empathetic approach to others including students in crisis.  

“In psychology we know that if somebody's basic needs are not being met, they have difficulty succeeding. Students can’t study if they have to worry about where their next meal is coming from or how they're going to pay their rent,” she explains. “That was our thought process with our gift.”

The couple has contributed to students’ educations in the past, paving the way to a degree for many. The Basic Needs Center Endowment gift seemed to them a logical next step.

“We realized that this program was something that could help people who are already in the system but now may be unable to finish due to financial struggles,” Michelle says. “So, we’re still contributing to students’ education, but not in the conventional sense.”

Different, Yet Complementary

From the moment they met at a campus get-together, both Matthew and Michelle had different takes on their relationship. On their first date, Matthew brought up marriage. 

“This guy’s a little nuts,” Michelle recalls thinking, telling him out loud, “I would like to be friends, not date you.” In fact, another year would pass before their second outing.

But Matthew persisted, and in three years he and Michelle married. Thirty-one years and two grown sons later, they are jointly operating their business with differing, yet complementary styles.

While she is their company’s empath, he is a self-described bottom-line guy who cuts to the chase when conducting business. Michelle describes Matthew as an innovator and risk-taker.

“He just goes for it,” she says of her husband’s personal and professional style. “He keeps us current, always trying new things.”

Building a Business

It’s been that way since his senior year at SDSU when Matthew, an entrepreneur by nature, bought some vending machines from a family friend and installed them in campus fraternity houses. Things took off from there.

Since the days his machines accepted coins, Matthew has made sure First Class is a leader in the vending industry. These days the couple’s business has evolved to include what is known as “unattended retail.” In public places like the Las Vegas airport, the company operates micro markets called First Class Snack Shack that are self-checkout stores.

The company also includes an office coffee division that distributes a wide array of coffees and related products to businesses throughout Nevada including schools, prisons, airports, casinos, car dealers and hospitals. “We’re pretty much everywhere,” Michelle observes.

Both Matthew and Michelle find a great deal of satisfaction in their work. For Michelle, it's advocating for employees and customers. Matthew finds satisfaction in being “a founder and a builder,” having grown the company from himself and one other employee to a workforce of up to 500 at its peak.

Time to Give Back

The Marshes look back fondly on their time at SDSU. Matthew, who refers to his speech communication studies as his “business degree without the math,” says he draws on it almost every day in his work. 

Michelle, who graduated with honors, says her SDSU degree prepared her well for the many directions her career has taken. “I feel like it was a well-rounded education,” she says, something students facing hardships should be helped to complete.

“It is important we try to give in a way that allows people to maintain some dignity and self-esteem and to be able to make their own way. That’s what drives me to give.”

Although Matthew agrees, he says there are additional reasons for the couple’s SDSU gift decision: “We hadn't really given back to the school much and it’s a wonderful school. We met there. We were educated there. I think it's time to give back there."

To make a gift to SDSU’s Basic Needs Center, please contact Jen Stanley, [email protected] , 415-722-6786.