Zak Designs’ Irv Zakheim, founder of the Zak! Charity Open, has officially passed the torch for its annual fundraising event over to the Rypien Foundation following the close of the 2016 event last month.
“I am continually honored and humbled by how big the Zak! Charity Open has become and how much we’ve been able to do to help kids in this community throughout the last 17 years,” said Zakheim. “Without the unbelievable support and generosity from our sponsors,our volunteers, and the amazing people who organized this event we’d never have been able to continue it for as long as we have.”
The Zak! Charity Open, since 1999, has raised more than $5.7 million for local children’s charities, including the Children’s Miracle Network, YWCA of Spokane Child and Youth Services, Boys & Girls Clubs of Spokane County, and the Rypien Foundation.
“We have been working with Mark Rypien and the Rypien Foundation for more than a dozen years, and there’s no organization better suited to take over leadership of this event and continue to grow and develop it so it can help bring hope to even more children,” Zakheim said.
