TEXAS PHILANTHROPIST DONATES
$710,000 IN TEXAS FFA SCHOLARSHIPS
CENTERVILLE – The Richard Wallrath Education Foundation awarded $710,000 in scholarships to outstanding Texas FFA members July 13 at their convention in Fort Worth.
Wallrath - founder of the education foundation, Champion Window Inc., Champion Innovations, and owner of Champion Ranch in Centerville - has become a familiar face at Texas FFA and 4-H scholarship banquets by donating millions to those programs during the past 10 years.
“The key to the future is an education,” Wallrath said . “After these kids get an education, they can turn around and give back to the world.”
The philanthropist began his long history of community service after attending a speech by Robert Gilmour Letourneau, inventor of the machinery used to build Hoover Dam. Letourneau suggested that businessmen should donate 20 percent of their profit to religion through charities.
Wallrath has followed Letourneau’s advice for more than 30 years and now gives far more than the suggested 20 percent through the esteemed education foundation. Each year, the foundation awards 142 scholarships to deserving young men and women in both FFA and 4-H.
Wallrath donated a matching $710,000 to outstanding 4-H members June 6 at the Texas 4-H Roundup in College Station, Texas.
“It is extremely rare to find someone as generous and sincere as Mr. Wallrath,” said scholarship recipient Ashton Teal.
“For someone to take a chance on 71 kids he has never met in his life and to invest in their higher education is something to be treasured,” said the Texas A&M University freshman from Tilden, Texas. “Getting to meet the man that has opened so many doors to my future is something I will never forget.”
The Richard Wallrath Educational Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charity that benefits youth education with scholarships.
WRITER: Megan Knight, (979)574-5989, mknight@tamu.edu