The
year was 1989, the place, Arizona State University, the characters, ASU
students. Born that year was the “9 Beans and a Burrito”.
A group of Hispanic students formed a softball team, which would lead
to lifelong friendships and eventually the 9 Beans and a Burrito Foundation.
“9 Beans and A Burrito” started as an intramural softball
team at Arizona State University. How did we come up with such a name?
A few elements were considered when it came time to decide on a name for
the newly formed team. Given the fact that all of us were of Hispanic
decent, we wanted our name to reveal our background. “Beans”
was a simple enough concept, while still giving our team name an element
of humor. However, a problem arose when we tried to attach the label of
“Bean” to our extraordinarily huge 6’5”, 350 lb
teammate. Since the rest of us were somewhat small in comparison, we had
no choice but to honor him with his own title of the “Burrito”.
Although we had about 20 members, only ten players can play on the softball
field at one time. One position was taken by the “Burrito, which
left 9 positions available for the “Beans”. Hence, we became
“9 Beans and A Burrito”. As a softball team we excelled within
the intramural ranks. This led to team competing in other sports, including
football, basketball and volleyball.
The members
of the Foundation come from various backgrounds with each member bringing
new ideas and visions to the group. We find strength in the morals we
uphold which have been given to us by our parents. We appreciate our parents,
as well as other role models that have inspired us, mentored us, and have
had faith in us. These people, in their own right, are overachievers in
their lives and in their communities. And we cannot forget our most important
influence, which is religion. Religion teaches us the importance of sharing
and giving, as well as to respect and love one another. We do thank God
for all of our blessings. It has been many years since the beans time
at ASU, but our friendships have remained solid. We have celebrated our
lives together thru weddings, birthdays, holidays and just about any other
reason. Having a “Bean” as a friend has many aspects; we help,
we praise, we wish well and we support. This friendship is given freely,
honestly and without question.
The desire to give something back to the community ranks high in the hearts
and minds of the “Beans”. During our years at ASU we participated
in food & clothing drives as well as volunteering time for charity
events and tutoring. The idea of the Foundation began to take root within
the minds of the “Beans” while at ASU. There was a clear understanding
that in order to be helpful and effective as a group we would each need
to establish our own individual identity. Each “Bean” has
pursued their goals and has been successful in their endeavors. We are
proud to say that our members are Public servants, teachers, engineers
and entrepreneurs.
Education is what brought us together, and now education is where we want
to focus our energies. We believe that education creates a solid foundation
for the future, a foundation that will help guide you thru your entire
life. The 9 Beans and a Burrito Foundation wishes to assist in the building
of this foundation. We assist by offering scholarships to individuals
with the desire and passion to excel both as individuals and as community
leaders. More importantly, we offer our time and experience to mentor
these scholarship recipients.
We formed the foundation because of our desire and passion to assist others.
Hopefully, the day will come when even younger generations will follow
our Foundations vision.
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