37 Porterville seniors awarded Ruiz 4 Kids scholarships

Thirty-seven Porterville area students received $1,000 scholarships from Ruiz Foods and its Ruiz 4 Kids Award program.

Thirty-seven Porterville area students received $1,000 scholarships from Ruiz Foods and its Ruiz 4 Kids Award program.

This year, the privately owned business through the nonprofit Ruiz 4 Kids awarded a total of $522,500 in student scholarships. Each student receives a $1,000 scholarship.

A total of 317 Central Valley students were the recipients of the 2017 Ruiz 4 Kids Scholarships, and 37 were from Porterville.

“We are thrilled to assist in the continued education of local high school and community college students,” said Blanca Santana, Ruiz 4 Kids Dinuba. “We could not be more excited at our ability to award scholarships to youth in our community and help them achieve their dream of higher education. Ruiz 4 Kids looks forward to following their achievements.”

Ruiz 4 Kids was founded in 1991 when employees of Ruiz Food Products, Inc. approached founder Fred Ruiz asking him to help them explore ways to assist families with children in need. Today, Ruiz 4 Kids works to fund children and education program scholarships to high school seniors and community college students as well as mini-grants for teacher programs.

Ruiz Foods has corporate offices in Dinuba. Kim Ruiz Beck, the elder daughter of co-founder and Chairman Emeritus Fred Ruiz, is chairman and Rachel Cullen is the president and CEO.

Ruiz Foods employs over 3,500 team members in California, Texas and South Carolina. For more information, visit www.elmonterey.com or www.mytornados.com. Ruiz 4 Kids Scholarship recipients MONACHE HIGH SCHOOL Johanna Apodaca Hernandez Joslyn Buckley Lori Cha

GRANITE HILLS HIGH SCHOOL Luz Aguilar Garcia Edith Bedolla Fuentes Joel Campos Gatica Shauntell Edmond Cesar Madrigal Judith Magana Julissa Magana Frida Mendez-arce Jennifer Morales Christopher Quinonez Maria Rodelo-sandoval

HARMONY MAGNET HIGH SCHOOL Gwendolyn Adriaansen Lana Bridi Audrey Garcia Ayline Ruiz Linda Tejeda Omar Vargas Torres Abby Watson

PORTERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL Steven Chapman Vanessa Contreras Rodriguez Ulises Cordova Veronica Hernandez Martinez Guadalupe Hernandez Jacob Hernandez Marcus Keck William Ledesma Jaybree Lopez Frank Makhlouf Lorna Mendoza Kenzie Milhous Allison Negus Daisy Ramos Celia Romero Yvette Vargas