When Noble Texas Builders unveiled its new headquarters in La Feria, scores of business leaders and elected officials showed up. Many wanted to check out the remodeled building that had been empty for a number of years.

There were company employees brimming with enthusiasm. They now had one of the most modern office buildings in the Rio Grande Valley. In this small city of about 7,000 people, Texas Noble Builders pumped about $1.5 million to renovate and retrofit the old building.

La Feria Mayor Olga Maldonado said they couldn’t be happier with having NTB choose their small, but centrally located, city.

“When we were growing up, we used to come here to shop,” she said, referring to the old El Chaparral supermarket, one of the building’s previous tenants. “Thanks for coming to La Feria.”

U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, said NTB is a company that truly represents the American Dream.

More than a half dozen speeches were made, including one by Rene Capistran, one the company’s founders and its CEO. An unexpected announcement then came to the surprise of the crowd. Capistran said their in-house organization, Noble Charities, was donating $25,000 to Our Lady of the Lake University.

The relatively new Catholic university campus has been in La Feria since 2013, but its flagship was founded in San Antonio in 1895.

Patricia Blanco, the campus director, said she was thrilled for the donation.

She said the La Feria campus of Our Lady of the Lake University has a current enrollment of 128 students pursuing bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees.

In a later interview, Blanco said the announcement was a complete surprise. “This is the first time ever Our Lady of the Lake University gets a donation here,” she said. “The money will go to set up a scholarship fund.”

Capistran said one of their goals of their business philosophy is to distribute the wealth in the areas they operate. “We are more than brick-and-mortar company,” he said. “We also are about building communities.”