Rom Malka, 14, is an Israeli-Arab who lives in Be’er-Sheva, Israel, which was attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7. Since the attack, Rom feels completely safe in one location: the Israel Tennis & Education Center (ITEC).

More than 20,000 Israeli children find respite from the war and stresses in their lives through the non-profit ITEC centers. ITEC has 17 primary locations and seven satellite facilities throughout Israel that focus on children who have special needs, are at risk or live in poverty.

They learn life skills and how to get along with other young Israelis from different backgrounds and religions. The idea is to create a more peaceful and stronger Israeli society.

ITEC continues to support Israeli children, thanks in large part to donors and volunteers in the United States, such as St. Louisan Les Nackman. It’s fitting that Nackman supports ITEC because he has had a lifelong love of tennis. He received a tennis scholarship from the University of Missouri in 1944. After college, Nackman went into advertising and eventually became a manufacturer’s representative for electronics, hardware and housewares in several midwestern states.

Nackman, a longtime member of Congregation Temple Israel, began volunteering and fundraising for ITEC in 1993. Over the past 30 years, he’s helped raise millions of dollars in support of the organization. In 2005, he joined the ITEC board of directors.

“It had everything I wanted in a charity,” Nackman said. “I love children. I love tennis and I love Israel. Since 2000, when I took over the ITEC tennis exhibitions that showcased the Israeli children at my tennis club in Florida, it just got bigger and better.”

Twenty fundraising exhibitions are held in Florida each year to support thousands of children in ITEC. Nackman, 97, stopped playing tennis during the pandemic in 2021, but his efforts to aid ITEC haven’t slowed down one bit.

In addition to his home in St. Louis, Nackman spends time during the winter in Boca Raton, Fla. A tennis court at Addison Reserve Country Club honors him for his work with the Israeli organization. 

The Samson ITEC in Be’er-Sheva has a new fitness and education center named for Nackman and Adele Loeb, who’s also a supporter of the program. Their fundraising and volunteer work on behalf of ITEC is an essential element for the organization’s goals, said Yoni Yair, ITEC vice president of development.

“With the longtime involvement and extraordinary leadership and generosity of Les and Adele, we are able to impact the lives and support hundreds of at risk and underprivileged children in Israel,” Yair said. “Their meaningful generosity helps us to keep hundreds of children off the streets and bring them into our community centers, where they get tutoring and gain important values and life skills that will help prepare them for life.”

Nackman said tennis is only the vehicle used to get children in the door.

“We change their whole life,” he said. “Most of the kids in Israel come to the centers after school, because there’s no place else for them to go. Their parents both work, so they come to the centers, meet their friends, do their homework and get a hot meal. Everybody, including Arabs and Christians, are invited to come. Nobody is excluded.”

If any of the children show promise for advanced tennis education, ITEC helps them obtain college tennis scholarships in the U.S. Regardless of their skill level, coexistence is a primary goal, said Phil Horwitz, Nackman’s son-in-law.

“The most interesting thing about ITEC is that you see this diverse group of kids coming over here, and they’re all holding the Israeli flag, and these are Arab Israelis,” Horwitz said. “It’s really amazing to see this diverse group of kids on the tennis court. During the exhibitions in the U.S., the kids come out on the court and talk about their experience at ITEC. It’s very moving. Most of these kids really come from impoverished areas of Israel.”

Horwitz said the ITEC experience has clearly made a difference for many Israeli children. Their transformation is demonstrated during the U.S. exhibitions.

“The kids come on the tennis court and they introduce themselves, and then they play the U.S. national anthem, followed by the playing of ‘Hatikvah,’ ” Horwitz said. “You see the Jewish Israeli kids and the Israeli Arabs and all the other diverse groups of kids down there singing together, supporting Israel. People sometimes don’t understand that non-Jews living in Israel support Israel. They love Israel. And they are so happy to come over to the U.S. and see all these people supporting ITEC.”