Bronfman Prize Winners Announced

For the first time, two recipients have been chosen for The Charles Bronfman Prize 2010, which honors young Jewish humanitarians. Sasha Chanoff, founder of Mapendo International, a Boston-based international refugee agency, and Jared Genser, founder of Freedom Now, a Washington-based human rights lawyer who defends prisoners of conscience, will each receive a $100,000 award.

The Charles Bronfman Prize, now in its sixth year, was founded by Ellen Bronfman Hauptman and Andrew Hauptman together with Stephen Bronfman and Claudine Blondin Bronfman to honor their father. Past recipients include Jay Feinberg, executive director of the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation; Dr. Alon Tal, founder of Israel’s Arava Institute for Environmental Studies; Dr. Amitai Ziv, founder and director of the Israel Center for Medical Simulation; Rachel Andres, director of Jewish World Watch’s Solar Cooker Project and Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin, co-founders of the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP).

In other philanthropy news, the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust announced more than $10 million in grants to fund three projects in Israel.

The Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center received a grant of $4.2 million to help patients avoid post-surgery complications and to research inflammatory bowel disease. The Weizmann Institute of Science received a grant of nearly $4 million to study Crohn’s disease in the hopes of creating new treatments. The Zahal Disabled Veterans Organization was awarded $2 million to help build a state-of-the-art center in Beersheva, Israel, for rehabilitation and support services for disabled veterans and victims of terrorism.