Israel Tennis Centers to Host Presentation of Anna & Michael Kahan Family Scholarship
New York, New York, April 7, 2016 (Newswire.com) - The prize of 100,000 shekels to each player will be awarded on April 18 as a way of further stimulating the growth of professional tennis in the Jewish state. Michael Kahan, an 84-year-old Holocaust survivor living in San Diego, CA, created an endowment fund at the Israel Tennis Centers Foundation for the purpose of developing the next generation of Israeli tennis players on an international level. At the award ceremony, Adam Fishman will represent Mr. Kahan as his trustee, and ITC CEO Ari Strasberg will also take part.
“As a survivor and ardent Zionist, Mr. Kahan wants to leave this legacy to Israel and sees great importance in the promotion of young Israeli players, creating national pride,” said Benjamin Beiler, ITC International Chair, from Chicago, Illinois. “We are delighted he has chosen the Israel Tennis Centers to fulfill his vision.”
Mr. Kahan, born in Hungary, was saved at the start of World War II and escaped the genocidal Nazi regime, immigrating to the US. He met his wife Anna, also a Holocaust survivor, while working in the garment industry. Their grandchildren played college tennis at the University of Connecticut and Duke and, in light of his great love for Israel, Mr. Kahan decided to establish the tennis scholarships to help young players develop and represent Israel on the world scene.
About the Israel Tennis Centers Foundation:
The Israel Tennis Centers Foundation (ITC) is a 501 (c) 3 not-for-profit organization working tirelessly through the medium of sport to enhance the development of Israeli youth. Now celebrating 40 years since opening its first center in Ramat Hasharon in 1976, the ITC has helped over 500,000 children, many from Israel’s outlying development towns, as the largest social service agency for children in Israel. The ITC’s 14 centers stretch from Kiryat Shmona on the Lebanese border in the North to Beer Sheva bordering the Negev Desert in the South. http://www.israeltenniscenters.org.
Contacts:
Jacqueline Glodstein
ITC Executive Vice President/Global Development
212-784-9201
jglodstein@israeltenniscenters.org
Richard Weber
ITC Global Director of Marketing
212-784-9202