Texas Bowl

The Texas Bowl presented a check in the amount of $100,000 to DePelchin Children’s Center at the Center’s annual spring luncheon today.  The donation came from the proceeds of the 2009 Texas Bowl.

Houston Texans founder, chairman and chief executive officer Bob McNair and his wife, Janice, were presented with the Kezia DePelchin Award for their long history of philanthropic efforts throughout the Houston area.  In 2006, Mr. McNair urged the Texas Bowl to focus its search for a charitable beneficiary on organizations based in and servicing the Houston community.

“When we initiated the Texas Bowl, we wanted a charity that would represent children and families, had been around for a while and had a lot of credibility,” Mr. McNair said prior to the luncheon.  “DePelchin fit that and we’ve given them, through the Texas Bowl, now over $300,000.  As the bowl grows, the contributions to DePelchin will grow.”

DePelchin Children’s Center was named as the Texas Bowl’s official charitable beneficiary in 2006.  Over its four-year history, the Texas Bowl has donated more than $300,000 to DePelchin and has generated over $7 million in promotional support and publicity.

“It’s been a great thing for our children.  They get to go to the game; they to be excited about DePelchin being featured.  It’s a wonderful situation that they brought to us four years ago and we’re so excited about the Texas Bowl,” said DePelchin president and CEO Dr. Curt Mooney.  “Mr. McNair has done a tremendous job of helping to raise the profile of our organization and to raise money for our work.”

Founded in 1892 by Kezia Payne DePelchin, the Children’s Center is the largest and most comprehensive provider of children’s social and mental health services in the Houston area.  DePelchin Children’s Center serves 16,000 children and family members annually through 30 programs, including adoption, foster care, counseling and drug and alcohol prevention.

The agency was originally founded to serve as a shelter for orphaned children, and has grown and changed over its century-plus history to continue to meet the needs of the greater Houston community.  Today, DePelchin Children’s Center has over 60 locations in Harris, Montgomery, Brazoria, Galveston, Ft. Bend and Waller counties.

The 2009 Texas Bowl matched Navy and Missouri against one another.  In front of a crowd of 69,441, Navy steamrolled to a 35-13 win to wrap up the third 10-win season in the Academy’s history. 

The 2010 Texas Bowl will be played on Wednesday, December 29 at 5:00 p.m. CST at Reliant Stadium and will match teams from the Big 12 Conference and the Big Ten Conference.  The game will be televised nationally on ESPN.