WRCA

A Bright Future: Meet the 2008 WRCF Scholarship Recipients

What does the ranching industry need to secure a successful future? The answer’s simple: It’s bright, ambitious young people who are committed to this way of life – the veterinarians, ranch managers and marketing professionals of the future.

The Working Ranch Cowboys Association is proud to help deserving young people make their way toward those professions. This year, the Working Ranch Cowboys Foundation awarded $31,000 worth of scholarships to 27 children of working ranch cowboys. It’s a mission that is becoming bigger and better every year: In 1998, just four $500 scholarships were given out.

*Please contact the WRCA office if you would like a Scholarship Application!

Ever get discouraged, hearing about the so-called “slacker generation?” Wonder what’ll happen when those kids start taking over? Well, if it’s kids like these WRCF scholarship recipients, there’ll be some great things happening. The foundation is pleased to help these students achieve a successful transition from the ranch to the college classroom. And we know we’ll reap the benefits in the future – when these teachers, engineers and businessmen and women begin doing their own part to protect our western heritage. Meet the 2008 WRCF Scholarship Recipients by clicking here!

Camp Fire Cookin’ and Competin’

Click here to see 2008 Results!

Dutch-oven peach cobbler, campfire beans, and meat and potatoes cooked over a wood fire. Doesn’t get much better than that, does it?

The Working Ranch Cowboys Foundation is sponsoring a Chuck Wagon Champions Challenge to name the best of the best cook team, and the public is invited to help sample the fantastic fare. This inaugural event will be held as part of the Ride for the Brand Ranch Rodeo, July 4-5 in Colorado Springs, Colo., and proceeds will benefit WRCF.

The event will be held at the Norris/Penrose Events Center, as the kickoff to a 10-day western heritage celebration.

One of the contestants will be WRCF scholarship recipient Calvin Daugherty of Silverton, Texas. Calvin, 19, refurbished his own chuck wagon, and he has used it for a catering business for the past six years.

It’s entrepreneurial, self-starters like this that WRCF is pleased to help through its scholarship fund. Working ranch cowboys and their immediate family members are eligible for the scholarships, and it’s expected that each year’s recipients will include young people who want to be veterinarians, ranch owners and agriculture professionals.

For the 2008-2009 school year, WRCF awarded $31,000 in scholarships. All told, more than $115,000 in scholarships has been given out – most of that within the past three years when the foundation has experienced its most growth.

WRCF also helps working cowboys who have experienced illness or injury – either to themselves or their immediate family members. As of mid-June, $17,000 had been given out this year in crisis assistance. By now, that number will have grown. All told, WRCF has assisted cowboys and their families with more than $220,000 in crisis assistance.

To help out with this great cause, WRCF is pleased to sponsor the Chuck Wagon Champions Challenge. Other contestants include Susan Whipple, wife of the Working Ranch Cowboys Association president Randy Whipple, and Tim Belt of Avondale, Colo., who was one of the founding committee members of the Colorado Championship Ranch Rodeo in Hugo.

Other chuck wagons – coming from near and far – are:

-- Moreland Wagon Shop -- Glen Moreland, Fort Davis, Texas

-- The Heart Bar Wagon -- Kit Haddock, Monument, Colo.

-- Ming Bend Cattle Co. -- Haven Snow, Graham, Texas

-- Bar J -- Dumas, Texas

The wagon crews will be cooking throughout the day July 5, and they will begin serving meal-ticket-holders at 5 p.m.

Visitors can expect to see these cook teams dressed appropriately, and their wagons decked out authentically. They will represent a true picture of how working cowboys were fed on the trail between 1846 and 1947.

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