In August 2006, WellMed Founder and CEO, Dr. George Rapier III and his wife, Kym, were about to donate $100,000 to the community's largest dropout prevention program when they tore up the check.

It turns out the people at Communities In Schools of San Antonio needed $130,000 to fully fund its "Men Who Dream" program, which targets high school boys considered at risk of becoming dropouts. When they learned of the need for more money, the Rapiers promptly wrote a new check for the full amount.

"I couldn't believe it," said Nancy Reed, Executive Director of CIS-San Antonio, a non-profit organization that impacts 7,000 students across Bexar County. "I've never seen such genuine, caring people who really are so involved in the community, especially when it comes to young people."

Since then, the Rapiers have continued to invest time and money in the youth of San Antonio through CIS-San Antonio. Last year, they purchased two 15-passenger vans to replace an older model van used by the non-profit. Kym Rapier sent martial arts instructors from Family Fitness Unlimited, her South Side fitness club, to teach elementary and middle school children at three CIS-sponsored after-school programs. A fourth martial arts program will be added this fall. Nine students who met the goal of improving their grades are continuing their martial arts lessons for free this summer at Kym's gym.

In April, Dr. Rapier, CEO and President of WellMed, one of South Texas' largest healthcare providers, served as a volunteer physician at a weekend retreat for 19 teen-age boys at the HEB Foundation Camp near Leakey. Kym joined him as a volunteer nurse.

At a May 3rd luncheon honoring the couple, the Rapiers announced they were donating $500,000 to CIS-San Antonio through the George and Kym Rapier Charitable Trust, representing the bulk of the trust's giving budget for 2007. In all, the couple's donations to the non-profit educationoriented group, including vans, money and resources, has topped $650,000.

"I've been relatively blessed, and so has Kym, and we wanted to give back to the community," Dr. Rapier said. "Education is one of the critical areas where we must focus our attention if the kids growing up here are going to have any success in the future."

Dr. Rapier is about to oversee a second round of giving through the establishment of the WellMed Charitable Foundation. "We'll put a percentage of WellMed's aftertax income into that foundation," Dr. Rapier said. "That is getting off the ground and it will be funded by the end of the summer."

That foundation will focus on senior healthcare, which is also the focus of WellMed, which Dr. Rapier founded more than a quarter-century ago.

Dr. Rapier, who grew up in Pensacola, Fla., has called the Alamo City home for the past three decades. He moved to San Antonio in 1977 for his internship and residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center. He entered private practice in 1980.

In 1990, he founded WellMed, a small, primary care medical group with a staff of three physicians. Today, WellMed is a well-established practice management company with a staff of 700, including 40 physicians and 13 physician assistants. It operates out of 12 locations across Bexar County and in Boerne. The group serves 70,000 patients a year, about half of whom are senior citizens.

"We target senior care, because we really believe that's an area that's not well served today," said Dr. Rapier, a 55-yearold who specializes in Internal Medicine. "What we're trying to accomplish at WellMed is a focus on preventive medicine and quality medicine."

"We spend a whole lot of money in this country on things after they are broken. It costs a whole lot less to do prevention than it does to fix it after it's broken. That's been a focus and passion of mine."

In many respects, the charity that has become the main beneficiary of the Rapier Charitable Trust – CIS-San Antonio – reflects the philosophy, too.

For more than two decades, CISSan Antonio – one of 27 statewide, umbrella groups of the national Communities in Schools initiative – has worked to keep kids in school and prepare them for life through multi-faceted, campus-based efforts. CIS-San Antonio services include: counseling, mentoring, clothing assistance, after-school programs, tutoring, dental screenings and college and career prep.

Currently, CIS-San Antonio works with more than 7,000 students on more than 50 campuses in 8 school districts across Bexar County. A summer program currently under way involves 450 students.

"They're very careful about who they give their money to, to make sure it goes the farthest, and does the most good," Reed noted. "What's more, they want to do more than just donate money. They want to be involved personally. How many people who give money also give of their time?"

The severity of the dropout crisis in Bexar County, and CIS-San Antonio's multi-pronged efforts to combat the problem, made supporting it an easy decision, the Rapiers said.

"I'm astounded by the dropout numbers in San Antonio," said Kym Rapier, a former star volleyball player at Churchill High School and UTSA. "The magnitude of the problem is just enormous."

Dropout statistics in Texas vary widely based on reporting procedures but, according to the independent Intercultural Development Research Association, 35 percent of students who were freshmen in Fall 2002 failed to graduate in Spring 2006. That number represents 137,000 students. Among Hispanics, the trend is even worse, with 47 percent of students statewide failing to graduate. IDRA's numbers for Bexar County closely mirror the statewide figures.

The Rapiers are optimistic they can make a difference in those statistics.