NCJW to present Kim Sport with top honor at Oct. 16 event

The National Council of Jewish Women’s New Orleans Section has selected community activist Kim Sport to receive its top award — the 2017 Hannah G. Solomon Award.

Sport will be honored at the upcoming Hannah G. Solomon Award Luncheon on Oct. 16, 11:30 a.m. at the Marriott Hotel on Canal Street.

This award is given annually to a community leader who exemplifies the qualities of NCJW founder Hannah G. Solomon, and who has brought about important community programs and services through their leadership in a volunteer capacity.

“Sport exemplifies volunteer leadership that brings forth social change. She fights for issues in which NCJW is in sympathy, especially those involving youth, education and women,” NCJW President Barbara Kaplinsky said. “She makes our city, state and country a better place for all.”

After retiring from an accomplished and renowned legal career in 2000, Sport chose to dedicate her time volunteering for many non-profit organizations in the Greater New Orleans area. Sport utilized her legal and persuasive skills to advocate and raise millions of dollars for a multitude of human service agencies.

Sport worked in support for education and children’s rights, including Jefferson Dollars for Scholars and United Way’s Women’s Leadership Council and its “Success by Six” program. She worked on ground-breaking women’s breast cancer health initiatives through her work with the American Cancer Society and the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium and Oschner/Baptist Medical Center.

She co-founded Breastoration, an advocacy and financial assistance organization, to help women facing mastectomies. In the 2016 legislative session, Sport drafted a bill, which passed unanimously, to assure that health insurance providers cover every stage of a women’s breast reconstruction.

Sport has also brought legislative change on domestic violence issues. While functioning as the first chair of the Louisiana Commission to Prevent Domestic Violence, and also while still working as United Way’s public policy chair, Sport worked to see over 50 provisions of law amended or enacted to provide greater protection and services to domestic violence victims and to appropriately treat and punish abusers. This work continues, not only on domestic violence, but also on EITC, equal pay and eradication of poverty.

Tickets for the luncheon are $70 per person. Reserved tables are for 8 to 10 people. Reservations should be made by Oct. 6 to Loel Weil Samuel, 2100 St. Charles Avenue, Unit 3G, New Orleans, LA 70130. Valet parking is available at the $17 special event rate. Tickets can also be purchased online.