Suffern 12-year-old donates tennis rackets to summer camp

<p>A Rockland middle school student is donating tennis rackets to kids at a summer camp.</p>

News 12 Staff

Aug 10, 2018, 3:43 PM

Updated 2,079 days ago

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A Rockland middle school student is donating tennis rackets to kids at a summer camp.
The children now have their own tennis rackets and will soon learn how to play the sport all thanks to 12-year-old Mandy Fleischman, of Suffern.

Fleischman is donating 100 tennis rackets to the Martin Luther King Multi-Purpose Center.

She volunteers for "Kids for Kids" and wanted to collect new and used tennis rackets and give them to kids in need.

"I've been playing since I was 3 years old. I come from a family of tennis players, and I just wanted everyone to share the same experience as me and be able to play tennis,” says Fleischman.

She set up bins at schools in the Suffern Central School District as well as at several tennis clubs in Rockland County.

Organizations also donated other items such as tennis balls.

Mandy and her family even re-gripped all the rackets themselves so kids could learn on equipment that felt brand new.

Camp counselors say this donation will give these kids more opportunity.

"A lot of families, they can't afford it or have no knowledge of the game. A lot of these kids are so talented and gifted athletically, but didn't get that exposure and this will give them the opportunity to pick up the sport,” says Andrew Delva, of the MLK Center.
Students will be able to get their first lessons at the high school.


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