The Callier Center for Communication Disorders will present the 2018 Ruth and Ken Altshuler Callier Care Award to the Meadows Foundation at the seventh annual Callier Cares Luncheon on April 17.
Al and Virginia Meadows
The award is given annually to an individual or group that has contributed significantly to the betterment of the community and to advancing the care of patients with communication disorders. The luncheon was created to raise resources through the Callier Care Fund to benefit children and adults who otherwise could not afford clinical care to overcome speech, language and hearing disorders.
“The Meadows Foundation assesses the needs of Texas citizens and implements solutions to complex problems in a sensible and organized way,” Dr. Ken Altshuler said. “Their tremendous contribution to this state, to North Texas and to the Callier Center cannot be overstated. It’s extraordinary.”
In 1948, Al and Virginia Meadows established the Meadows Foundation, a private family philanthropy, to benefit the people of Texas. Since its inception, the foundation has disbursed more than $1.1 billion in grants to more than 3,500 Texas institutions and agencies.
A Commitment to Family
Born in Vidalia, Georgia, and a graduate of Centenary College of Louisiana, Al Meadows moved to Dallas in 1937, where he founded General American Oil Company of Texas and made his fortune. When Meadows settled in Dallas, it became the center of his family gatherings.
Callier Cares Luncheon
When: noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, April 17
Where: Dallas Country Club
Tickets: To reserve tickets and tables, visit the Callier Cares Luncheon website. Proceeds benefit patients in need through the Callier Care Fund.
Family was important to Meadows. He was one of seven children, including one brother and five sisters. When he created the foundation, he aimed to ensure that the family would serve on the board for as long as possible. In the trust agreement, he specified that seven of the 11 trustees would be family.
“I remember when my mom told me that Uncle Al had appointed me to the board, she said, ‘This will be the most important thing that you will do,’” said Linda Perryman Evans, president and chief executive officer of the Meadows Foundation.
Evans has served as a trustee and director from her father’s branch of the family since 1976. Her paternal grandmother was Al Meadows’ sister.
“When he set up the foundation, he directed that all of the funds would go to Texas, because he felt like this is where the money was made, and he wanted to give back to the people who had made him successful,” Evans said.
Furthering the Callier Center's Mission
One of the first two grants ever bestowed by the Meadows Foundation was for $500 to the Pilot Institute for the Deaf in 1950. The Pilot Institute was the first center for deaf children in Dallas and later merged with the Dallas Speech and Hearing Center, the Dallas Council for the Deaf and the Callier Hearing and Speech Center to form one cooperative program, now known as the Callier Center for Communication Disorders, part of the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at UT Dallas.
“Al Meadows invested in Callier from the beginning, and the Meadows Foundation followed his lead.”
Linda Perryman Evans, president and chief executive officer of the Meadows Foundation
“Al Meadows invested in Callier from the beginning, and the Meadows Foundation followed his lead,” Evans said.
The Meadows Foundation has furthered the Callier Center’s mission of treatment, training and research through its support of Callier’s expansion in Dallas and on the UT Dallas campus.
In 1998, the Meadows Foundation contributed to the construction of the Callier Advanced Hearing Research Center in Dallas. Their transformative gift allowed the Callier Center to significantly expand its research laboratories, which are devoted to the study of hearing aids, speech and language of children and adults using cochlear implants, and central auditory system processing. The facility also houses student classrooms and faculty offices that support the Doctor of Audiology program, ranked No. 4 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.
Recently, the foundation helped make the expansion of the Callier Center on the UT Dallas campus a reality, providing additional facilities to conduct research, educate students and care for patients in Collin County.
“It’s an important cause to help people be able to hear and communicate,” Evans said. “It’s a critical need for them, and they deserve our support.”
The foundation’s support of the Callier Center over the years has helped shape the future of care for patients with speech, language and hearing disorders in North Texas and beyond.
“There’s no place like Callier,” Evans said. “It’s an outstanding organization that helps a lot of people, and it’s comprehensive in its services. Callier is one of the best in the country, and how fortunate we are to have Callier in Dallas.”
Working to Improve Texas and the Nation
Evans emphasized the foundation’s desire to improve the lives of Texans. She also stressed the importance of philanthropy’s future across the nation.
“Philanthropy is one of the great American values that sets us apart from all other countries,” Evans said. “Government alone can’t solve all the problems, but foundations can’t do what government does. It takes everyone working together to address some of our nation’s biggest problems.”
Al and Virginia Meadows established the Meadows Foundation to ensure that their philanthropy would continue in perpetuity and that their family would share in the joy of giving.
“If he were here today, he would be very proud that the family is still involved –– every branch,” Evans said. “I think he would say that the things that the foundation has done in its lifetime have exceeded his expectations far beyond anything he could imagine.”