Mission: The mission of the Good Samaritan Foundation is to promote nursing as a career by providing scholarship funds directly to student nurses for their clinical nursing courses. The foundation's goal is to alleviate the current severe shortage of nurses, not only in Houston and Texas but in the United States.

History: In 1951, the Rev. Clyde Verheyden joined with six prominent Houstonians to form the Good Samaritan Club (subsequently the Good Samaritan Foundation) for the purpose of funding a program for the recruitment and education of nurses. Even in 1951 there was a shortage of nurses to staff the newly-built Texas Medical Center. Mr. Verheyden served as Executive Director until his retirement 35 years later and lived to see many of his dreams accomplished. In 1967, at the suggestion of trustee Lou Lewis, the foundation inaugurated its annual golf tournament, the first charity tournament of its kind in Houston. In 1986, Jim Weaver succeeded Mr. Verheyden, and in 1989 the foundation added a second fund-raising event, the Pearl Ball. Both events still take place annually. Ron Matthews succeeded Mr. Weaver as Executive Director in June 2002.

Achievements: Since 1951, the Good Samaritan Foundation has helped more than 12,000 individuals to attend nursing school, with disbursements of over $14,600,000 in scholarship grants during that period. The foundation has accomplished these milestones solely through its own fund-raising efforts, without any federal, state, or local tax money and without being a United Way agency.