It all started with a Facebook post – a plea from Royal Stem Academy music teacher Noel Media on May 23, 2025, asking for donations of used musical instruments for the music program at the school.

The story – picked up as a small news item in the June 5, 2025, print edition of the Katy Times and posted online on katytimes.com on June 8, 2025 – was read by T. J. Howard, an electromechanical technician working at Grundfos’ U.S. headquarters in Brookshire. Heeding the call from Grundfos U.S. President Ansell Sims to find community causes to support, Howard worked up a grant application to fund the program and submitted through channels to the company’s headquarters in Denmark.

It was rejected. Howard was told that he was “not thinking big enough.”

Undeterred, Howard spent several months reworking and refining the grant application, with help from co-worker Rocio Sanchez Jolivette and feedback from the staff at the Royal Stem Academy.

It was then approved.

On Thursday, January 30, Howard and Jolivette, joined by Sims and other members of the Grundfos team, presented a check for $58,000 to Royal ISD – to fund not only the music program but to do so much more. The grant will support multi-year programs ranging from ESL and special education to the district's award-winning band program.

“This grant is going to help so many people,” Howard said.

The check presentation ceremony held at 902 Koomey Road in Brookshire was also attended by representatives of Goya Foods.

Grundfos, a leading global manufacturer of pumps and pumping systems, has been in the Americas providing water distribution, sustainability and treatment solutions since 1973. Based in Denmark, the company has 1900 employees and 30 physical plants around the world and installs systems in 35 countries.