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Billie Jean King, Christopher Rodriquez, Heather Lubov,
Executive Director, City Parks Foundation, David
Moore, Board Chair, City Parks Foundation |
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City Parks Foundation’s 18th
Annual CityParks
Tennis Benefit
at the 2015 US Open Tennis Championships
On September 1,
2015, the City Parks Foundation’s annual CityParks
Tennis Benefit,
co-chaired by Billie Jean King and John McEnroe, was held at
the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The
event, which welcomed 250 guests, raised over $257,000 for CityParks
Tennis, a
free youth instructional program that serves over 6,000
children in parks throughout New York City each season.
The Benefit, which is held each year at the US Open Tennis
Championships, was hosted by Budd Mishkin and featured a
cocktail party, dinner, live auction, and tickets to the
Open’s evening matches in Arthur Ashe Stadium. This year,
City Parks Foundation honored Steve
Owens, Head Pro, Saw Mill and Pleasantville Racquet
Clubs and Todd
Martin, CEO, International Tennis Hall of Fame, and
former #4 player in the world with the Vitas Gerulaitis
Community Service Award.
The event also honored CityParks
Tennis youth
player, 16
year-old Christopher Rodriguez, with the Billie Jean King
Junior Award. Christopher, of Jackson Heights,
Queens, began playing tennis with the program at age 10 in
Flushing, before he earned a spot in the City Parks
Foundation Junior
Academy presented by LACOSTE, an annual
tournament-training program for experienced players held at
the Billie Jean King Tennis Center. The highlight of
Rodriquez’s summer has been hitting with Thomas Blake at CityParks
Tennis clinic
with Coke. Christopher wants to go pro, inspired by his
favorite player, Roger Federer.
CityParks Tennis,
one of the largest municipal tennis programs in the country, provides
free tennis lessons and activities at 38 parks citywide to
children ages six to 16. CityParks
Tennis also
features an advanced training academy, which offers talented
youth with financial need the opportunity to bring their
game to a higher level of competition. Hundreds of academy
graduates have earned college athletic scholarships and
sectional and national rankings. Two graduates of the
academy have played in the junior division at the US Open.
City Parks Foundation (CPF) is the only independent,
nonprofit organization whose mission is to offer programs in
parks throughout the five boroughs of New York City. We work
in more than 350 parks citywide, presenting a broad range of
programs in an effort to promote healthy and vibrant
communities. Our programs and community building initiatives
reach 425,000 people each year. Our ethos is simple: we
believe thriving parks reflect thriving communities. For
more details, please visit
www.CityParksFoundation.org. |