TCU head football coach Gary Patterson and his wife Kelsey Patterson are awarding $325,000 in grant money to help libraries in the Fort Worth Independent School District.
He's known for winning football games and leading TCU athletics into the national spotlight, but head coach Gary Patterson is leaving his mark well beyond the Ft. Worth campus.
"We keep our jobs because of wins and losses, " Patterson said. "But when it's all said and done. it's not about wins and losses, it's about how you changed people's lives."
Through his foundation, Patterson and his wife Kelsey decided to focus their charitable efforts on kids in Fort Worth, by investing money in Ft. Worth ISD school libraries.
"We really feel like it's our responsibility to fort worth to give back, " said Kelsey, who grew up in Fort Worth. "If you want to talk about economic development, or good communities, people who give back to their communities, where does that education start to build that workforce? To build those community members? And it really is back in grade school."
Over the past year, countless volunteers donated money to https://pattersonfoundation.org/, allowing Gary and Kelsey to write a check to Fort Worth schools for $325,000.00 in grants.
Money that can be used to buy new books, furniture, school supplies and technology.
Among the schools impacted by the grants is Worth Heights Elementary school, where over 50 percent of the titles in the schools library are considered "aged."
96 percent of the students at Worth Heights are hispanic, which puts the school's dual language books in high demand.
"One of our smallest collections is our spanish books, " added Worth Heights librarian Katie Hickey. "But we have the most usage from those and they get worn out very easily."
The state-wide standard is for books to be no more than 14 years old, though districts across Texas struggle to replace them.
"A lot of our books get outdated quickly, " Hickey added. "You just have to weed out and keep up with the collection."
For worth Heights Elementary school, the gift is a game changer.
"it means that our kids will have a huge selection of awesome, updated books to check out, especially our dual language kids, " Hickey said.
For the Patterson's, it's just the beginning.
"Ours is a long-term plan, where we said, if we can make these kids life better, then their families lives will be better, " Kelsey Patterson said.
"Knowledge is power, " Gary Patterson said. "There's a lot of good people in Fort Worth who do a lot of good things. On a very small scale, we're just trying to do our part. we're going to keep doing it, and hopefully, we keep doing it better."
He's most known for winning football games and leading TCU athletics into the national spotlight, but Patterson is also leaving his mark well beyond the university campus.
"We keep our jobs because of wins and losses," Gary said. "But when it's all said and done, it's not about wins and losses, it's about how you changed people's lives."
Through The Gary Patterson Foundation, Gary and Kelsey decided to focus their charitable efforts on kids in Fort Worth by investing money in Fort Worth ISD school libraries.
Gary and Kelsey Patterson donated $325,000 in grant money to the Fort Worth ISD to improve libraries.
"We really feel like it's our responsibility to Fort Worth to give back," said Kelsey, who grew up in Fort Worth. "If you want to talk about economic development, or good communities, people who give back to their communities, where does that education start to build that workforce? To build those community members? And it really is back in grade school."
Over the past year countless volunteers donated money to the foundation, allowing Gary and Kelsey to write a grant check to Fort Worth schools for $325,000.
That money can be used to buy new books, furniture, school supplies and technology.
One of the campuses impacted by the grants is Worth Heights Elementary School, where over 50 percent of the titles in the schools library are considered "aged."
Kelsey Patterson discusses a $325,000 donation from The Gary Patterson Foundation awarded to the Fort Worth ISD to improve libraries.
Ninety-six percent of the students at Worth Heights are Hispanic, which puts the school's dual-language books in high demand.
"One of our smallest collections is our Spanish books," added Worth Heights librarian Katie Hickey. "But we have the most usage from those and they get worn out very easily."
The state-wide standard is for books to be no more than 14-years-old, though districts across Texas struggle to replace them.
"A lot of our books get outdated quickly," Hickey added. "You just have to weed out and keep up with the collection."
For Worth Heights, the gift is a game changer.
Gary and Kelsey Patterson donated $325,000 in grant money to the Fort Worth ISD to improve libraries.
"It means that our kids will have a huge selection of awesome, updated books to check out, especially our dual-language kids," Hickey said.
For the Pattersons, it's just the beginning.
"Ours is a long-term plan, where we said, if we can make these kids' life better, then their families lives will be better," said Kelsey.
"Knowledge is power," Gary said. "There's a lot of good people in Fort Worth who do a lot of good things. On a very small scale, we're just trying to do our part. We're going to keep doing it, and hopefully, we keep doing it better."
