November 2, 2016—Junior Achievement of Southwest Virginia inducted Foot Levelers’ CEO Kent S. Greenawalt into its Business Hall of Fame event last night. During his acceptance speech, Greenawalt announced that he would match any gift given to the organization this week, up to $50,000.
“I believe the audience would like to leave a mark and support Junior Achievement,” said Greenawalt, himself a beneficiary of the organization. Greenawalt got heavily involved in high school in Dubuque, Iowa, during which time he won a number of national Junior Achievement championships and recognitions. Have your gift matched here: JuniorAchievement.org/web/JA-SWVA.
The occasion was marked by a special awards dinner at the Hotel Roanoke in Roanoke, Virginia, Foot Levelers’ hometown since 1988. The induction recognized Greenawalt’s achievements as a successful business leader, including his “significant contributions to the Southwest Virginia region” and to “free enterprise and society” in the region. Proceeds from this dinner and awards ceremony benefited Junior Achievement of Southwest Virginia’s K-12 educational programs.
“What better investment do you have than investing in young people who value the free enterprise system and want to go on and have an achievement mentality?” said Greenawalt of Junior Achievement. In what he described as a “spur of the moment thing,” Greenawalt added, as the audience audibly gasped: “Between now and the end of the week, I’d like to match your contribution to Junior Achievement to a ceiling of $50,000.”
As of mid-November 2016, the challenge amount has been superseded to $52,811.
Source: Foot Levelers