By Joel Langton
The 830 Times
Border Federal Credit Union used its new auditorium, at 2211 N. Bedell Ave., for the first time Tuesday by giving 50 graduating seniors $25,000 worth of scholarships.
The scholarships ranged from $250 to $750.
“Today is all about the graduating seniors,” said Maria Martinez, BFCU CEO. “We just want to help them get their college career started.”
Martinez gave much of the credit to the credit union’s staff, “most of these funds were raised at our annual golf tournament where the team worked so hard to make it a first-class event.”
BFCU has been giving away scholarships for nine years. “We have given out over $160,000 in scholarships in that span,” said Abram Rodriguez, Marketing and Public Relations manager.
Martinez said she’s amazed by the impact the scholarships have.
“I had a friend who called me from San Antonio and said they ran into a recent college graduate from Del Rio, and he asked them if they knew me,” Martinez said. “The graduate pulled their purse out and showed him a picture, from five years ago, where they were receiving the scholarship from me.”
The $750 scholarship recipients were Maritza McNeal, Amy Morin, Carolina Chavez, Jesus Arreola, Delaney Cervantes and Marintia Cortez.
Being awarded $500 scholarships were Marintia Cortez, Jadyn Casillas, Jena Villarreal, Catherine Cardenas, Alyssa Sanchez, Roberto Lopez, Ricardo Mejia, Andrea Gallegos and Jonathan Barragan.
Other $500 recipients were Roberto Garza, Maria Rodriguez, Joshua Villarreal, Mia Paredes, Andrea Lopez, Hannah Martinez, Jada Bishop, Andrea Mota, Rene Carrasco II and David Lee Zamora.
Other $500 recipients were Victoria Hernandez, Ricardo Limon, Ember Sandoval, Itzel Yanez, Jesus Reyes, America Ovalle, Larizza Guerra, Isabella Garza, Jose Carlos Guadarrama and Marissa Gonzalez. The $250 recipients were Nicolas Rivera and Sabrina Rios.
The room’s grand opening will be June 8. “We are doing it on the sixth month and eighth day because BFCU has been around for 68 years,” Martinez said.
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Contact the author at JoelaLangton@gmail.com .
