The ANNOTICO
Report
The Los Angeles
Lakers' All-Star guard Kobe
Bryant Charity Foundation "Vivo Del Mondo"
has offered eight college students a chance to go to Italy and discover the
country where he spent eight years of his childhood while his father,
Joe, was establishing himself as a basketball star there. Kobe
speaks Italian fluently and has returned to Italy many times since he and his
family left in 1992.
Kobe Bryant
offers 8 college students free trip to Italy
San Jose Mercury News
Associated Press
Friday, August. 04, 2006
WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - Kobe Bryant is going into philanthropy.
The Los Angeles
Lakers' All-Star guard announced Thursday
he has offered eight college students a chance to go to Italy and
discover the country where he spent part of his childhood.
"It's really exciting for us, to have the opportunity
to do something like this," said Bryant, referring to the Vivo Foundation
that he started. The foundation's
first program, called Vivo Del Mondo, will organize a
nine-day, all-expense paid trip to Italy for eight black and Hispanic
college students.
The students, who
were selected by two scholarship funds, will visit Rome,
Florence and Venice beginning next week.
"With me
growing up overseas - being exposed to another world, another culture, another
way of life - to able to open those doors for somebody else is special,"
Bryant said.
Bryant, 27, spent
eight years of his childhood in Italy
while his father, Joe, was establishing himself as a basketball star there. He
speaks Italian fluently and has returned to Italy many times since he and his
family left in 1992.