The Friends of Reading Tennis Task Force (FRTTF), working toward its goal of reconstructing the tennis courts at the Birch Meadow athletic complex, has received its first corporate donation.  It should not come as a surprise to anyone in Reading that it came from Arnold Rubin, owner of the Atlantic Food Mart.  Mr. Rubin is known for his generous financial support of many athletic, recreational, and civic organizations within our community over the years.

The Atlantic Food Mart has been particularly generous to Reading tennis.  It has been the proud sponsor of the Reading Tennis Open (RTO) for 16 years.  The RTO, an annual tournament played on the Reading community tennis courts, typically brings in over 250 players over the course of two weekends.  Proceeds from the RTO are used to

 support Reading tennis programs and the High School Varsity teams.  This event was the brainchild of Lorraine Salter and Kate Kaminer who founded the original Friends of Reading Tennis (FRT) booster club in 1991.  I had the pleasure of interviewing Arnold Rubin on behalf of the FRTTF when he called Lorraine and Kate in to receive a check for $5000 in support of the new tennis courts.  “Tennis is a wholesome activity that is good for the youth of the town”, he stated.  He himself has two daughters, now professional women, each of whom was Captain of her Lincoln-Sudbury Varsity tennis team her senior year.

In talking with Arnold Rubin I discovered that his philosophy of giving back to the community is a family philosophy.  His father, Sidney, used to tell him “cast your bread upon the waters and it shall come back to you.”  Arnold Rubin stated that he “gets a lot of pleasure from supporting the town.”  He added that this is especially true because “the town has been very good to his family.”  His grandfather, George J. Rubin, bought the store in 1929 from a

chain called Atlantic Butchers of New England, who were going bankrupt.  He and his son Sidney (Arnold’s father) changed the name to the Atlantic Food Mart.  Over the years, Reading has seen the Atlantic expand and renovate to keep up with the needs of its customers and remain a thriving business. 

Mr. Rubin tells me they will extensively remodel again this year, as well as add some new departments.  Arnold assured me he has no plans to retire any time soon.  He “loves what he does” and was pleased to say he has “a wonderful management team”, mentioning Paul Duffy, Ralph Melchionda,  and Bruce Lowthern, in particular.

The FRTTF would like to thank Arnold Rubin and the Atlantic Food Mart for this generous donation in support of a new public tennis facility that the residents of Reading can use with pride.  *If you are interested in making an individual, or corporate donation to this cause, please contact Lorraine Salter at norshore@comcast.net, or Kate Kaminer at kkaminer@comcast.net, or visit our website at www.friendsofreadingtennis.org.