Retired professor donates $100,000 to students in the Glades

BELLE GLADE -- A local man donated the majority of his life savings to students at the Belle Glade campus of Palm Beach Community College after reading an article about the plight of young black students living in the Glades.

Victor Guzman, a retired University of Florida Professor whose specialty is agricultural research, has worked in the Glades for more than six decades. His donation of more than $100,000 will be called the Lake Okeechobee Much Rat Nation Scholarship Fund and will give hundreds of talented, but underprivileged, students a shot at higher education.

“He endowed that money which means it's invested and the only money we ever spend on scholarships is from the interest on that money,” said Suellen Mann, Executive Director of the Palm Beach Community College Foundation.

Mann said, with student enrollment through the roof, the donation couldn’t have come at a better time from a better person.

“When we think of philanthropy, a lot of people think of the Bill Gates Foundation or folks with just an astronomical amount of money, but here comes a person who doesn't have an astronomical amount of money,” Mann said.

Guzman said he worked hard and put a little bit of money away each week with the intent of one day giving it back to the community he loves and cherishes

“Let's put it this way, I think Belle Glade is the most beautiful city in the US,” said Guzman.

“It’s not surprising, but very humbling,” says David Basore, President and CEO of Growers Management, Inc. and Guzman’s friend and colleague of about 30 years.

“I hope this sets an example for them for the rest of their life of how important education can be, and how hard he worked to give it back.”

 

For more information on the Lake Okeechobee Muck Rat Nation Scholarship Fund, contact the PBCC Foundation office at (561) 868–3450.