Arvest donates seed money to scholarship fund
Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Arvest Bank contributed $1,000 to the Military Officers Association of America to be used toward college scholarships, officials said Tuesday.
Donny Story, president and CEO of Arvest Bank in Fayetteville, presented a check for $500 during an annual Veterans Day ceremony at the bank’s downtown location on the Fayetteville Square. Arvest officials made a donation for the same amount in Benton County, Story said.
Ron Butler, president of the association’s Northwest Arkansas chapter, said the bank’s contributions will help the organization get started raising scholarship money in Northwest Arkansas.
“This is seed money,” Butler said.
Arvest officials are hoping the bank’s donation will encourage others to do the same.
“Hopefully, we’ll get some other corporate citizens to do it,” Story said.
Butler is hopeful that students from Northwest Arkansas will benefit from the scholarship funds. “If we can help a deserving child with the ambition to succeed, we’ll do our best to help them,” Butler said.
Experience of wars
Steven Gray, former chief of staff for U.S. Rep. John Boozman, R-Arkansas, presented a concise oral overview of the history of U.S. warfare since World War I. He never used a note or prop. Arvest associates, veterans and guests paid close attention to Gray’s presentation. Story said that he believes bank associates and others gained important historical perspective listening to Gray.
“It was interesting to see everyone’s faces (as Gray spoke),” Story said.
Butler said he was impressed with Gray.
“That’s about as concise a lesson in world conflict as you’ll ever come across,” Butler said. “It came from the heart.”
Veterans grateful
Tom Lightfoot of Springdale, who served in the Navy on a destroyer in the Pacific during World War II, said he enjoyed Tuesday’s ceremony and that he appreciates Arvest’s effort to honor veterans.
Lightfoot witnessed widespread destruction as a member of the occupying force after the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Japan to end World War II. He paid the price too.
Lightfoot said he has endured more than a dozen surgeries for gall bladder cancer.
Arvest has been hosting Veterans Day ceremonies at its downtown Fayetteville location since the mid-1990s, when the bank started staying open on Veterans Day, said Gaye Wilcox, executive vice president and sales manager for the bank.
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