EBSCO/PRADCO Donate Land to Fort Smith Special School District
OutdoorHub 09.24.13
EBSCO Industries Inc., the parent company of PRADCO-Fishing, has donated 7.2 acres of land to the Fort Smith Special School District.
The land, located at 3600 Jenny Lind Rd., is the location of PRADCO’s former receiving and raw materials warehouse. The warehouse and land have not been utilized for several years.
“It is very fulfilling to work for a company that wants to be a good corporate citizen and continues to have a generous heart,” said Bruce Stanton, Vice President and General Manager of PRADCO-Fishing. “We have looked at our receiving warehouse and property for years and how to utilize it and decided it would be best to let the Fort Smith schools have it as a donation. We have been physical neighbors with the school system for a long time, and we feel good about contributing to the future of the schools and the students of Fort Smith with this donation.”
PRADCO and the Fort Smith schools have a long history. PRADCO founder and Fort Smith resident George Perrin invented the original Rebel Minnow in the early 1960s. When his daughter, Debbie, became a part of the first class at Southside High School when it opened in 1962, Perrin decided to take the school mascot – Rebels – and name his fishing lure company after it. More than 50 years later, Rebel is one of the leading brands of fishing lures in the world and is sold in more than 60 countries.
