• by Tanya Gazdik , October 7, 2012

Budweiser is donating $2.5 million to provide families of U.S. military with scholarships.

As part of the St. Louis-based beer company’s “Walk Off A Hero” program, $5,000 was pledged to the Folds of Honor Foundation for every walk-off hit during the regular Major League Baseball season.

There were 205 walk-offs. In addition, Budweiser contributed a portion of all sales from May 20 through July 7, raising a total of $2.5 million for FHF.

More than 4,350 players took part in home plate pileups. The most walk-offs (39) occurred in September. The Oakland A’s led Major League Baseball in walk-offs, with 14 throughout the season, followed by the Dodgers with 12 walk-offs.

“Walk-offs are one of the most exciting ways to win in baseball,” said Rob McCarthy, vice president of Budweiser at Anheuser-Busch, in a release. “Knowing that each walk-off this season will help support and honor our wounded or fallen heroes and their families made each walk-off even more exciting and meaningful.”

The Folds of Honor Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing educational scholarships to families of fallen or injured soldiers. The 205 total walk-off wins during the 2012 regular season will help provide 205 scholarships to recipient families.

Budweiser presented the donation to Major Dan Rooney and FHF on Oct. 3 in front of 42,509 people at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Major Dan Rooney founded FHF in 2007 to give back to the spouses and children of soldiers killed or disabled in service to our country by providing them with educational scholarships. FHF has provided more than 3,500 educational scholarships to military families across the country since its creation.

This is not the first military-focused promotion for the beer company. Since 1987, Anheuser-Busch and its foundation have donated nearly $11 million to military charities, including the USO, Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, Pentagon Memorial Fund, Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, Hispanic War Veterans of America, Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Korean War and Vietnam War Memorials.