CATALINA FOOTHILLS, Ariz. (KGUN) — On Monday hundreds of teens and families were at the Tucson Convention Center for the Maccabi Games opening ceremony. The center was loud with applause for several teams from across the world.
900 kids and teens are competing in the games, most of them 13 to 18 years old, but some from Tucson are 12. They come from all across North America, Moldova, Ukraine, and Israel.
“It’s important to host kids from all over the world so they can see communities,” Gaby Rosen said.
Rosen goes to the Tucson Jewish Community Center and is a host for teens from Denver who are playing golf. She also played in the games years ago.
“I loved it and I wanted to give back to our community and give kids the same experience,” Rosen said. “It’s really fun to see it through their eyes and to see how happy and excited they are.”
In total there are more than 400 athletes who are participating in the host family program and 350 families who are hosting them. The J says the games are going to have a $5.5 million economic impact to the area.
“Seeing how everything comes together from the back end gives me a whole new found appreciation,” Gabby Erbst said.
Erbst is the housing chair who played in the games when the Tucson J last hosted the games in 2000. She helps match families with teens who are competing.
“We wanted to give them opportunities to bond with kids who have other interests and kind of open up everybody’s horizons,” she said.
When matching athletes and families she said they consider a kid’s gender, sports they’re competing in and dietary restrictions.
“We were talking about the differences about how they celebrate Shabbat here versus how they celebrate Shabbat in Moldova,” Noah Tennenbaum said.
Tennenbaum and his family are hosting athletes from Moldova. They have taken them all across Tucson to spots including the University of Arizona, Desert Museum, and Tucson Outlets.
For Tennenbaum it’s an opportunity for him to connect with Jewish teens like him from all across the world.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
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