Special Thanks! - Habitat for Humanity

Special Thanks!
Fea
ture
d
Plat
inum
Spo
nso
r!
Citi
The Dow Chemical
Company
Hudson Yards
JP Morgan Chase
Foundation
Bank of America
Capital One Bank
Wells Fargo
EXIT Realty Corp.
International
Lowe’s
PepsiCo Foundation
Valspar
Elizabeth Anton
Habitat for Humanity
Fund
Nissan Americas
W.P. Carey Inc.
Marsh & McLennan
Companies
The Proctor and
Gamble Company
Staten Island
Academy
The Door Restaurant
Roy Wilkins
Recreational Center
Staten Island
Academy Families
Hillside Gourmet
Bagels
Dominick’s
Not Just Bagels
Nucci’s South Staten
Island
Island Charger
Carroll’s Florist
Bozo’s Army Navy
Store
Red Wing Shoes
Carhartt
Fast Signs Staten
Island
PK’s Restaurant
Staten Island
The Staten Island
Foundation
Rotary Club of Staten
Island
Gerald Peter Gold
Mine Jewelers
NY Dental Laboratory
Group
Staten Island Mall
Bay Ridge Windows
and Doors Brooklyn
Statewide Oil and
Heat
Barone Steel
Fabricators
St. Ignatius Loyola
Interior Metals
NB Enterprise
NY Steps 2 Success
Paul Mitchell
Blue Thong Society
Montalbano’s of
Rosebank
A Precious Party
Rental
A F Bennett
Carroll’s Florist
Staten Island
The Birch Walthen
Lenox School
Michael J. Petrides
School
PS 1 Manhattan
Epiphany Lutheran
Church
ASHRAE NYC
Chapter
Orion Mechanical
Systems
Gil-Bar Industries
Dolphin Equipment
Celtic Sheet Metal
JB&B
United Air
Conditioning
Golden Crust
Volunteer Profile
St. John’s University
If any of you have taken the subway out
to Queens each morning, you’ve met
our St. John’s Univeristy support
volunteers! Students from the
university have been providing support
during the Carter Project by greeting
volunteers each morning and delivering
the delicious lunches from The Door
Restaurant to the individual build sites.
St. John’s is one of our best campus
chapters and students volunteer often
on Habitat NYCs build sites.
Thank you very much St. John’s
University!
“Citi has a long-term
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-Jill Kelly, Deputy Re
te
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Director, NY
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and Habitat
HabiChats
Jimmy and
Rosalynn are
Here!
ISSUE NO. 5 | FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2013
•••
President and Mrs. Carter have
finally arrived in New York City and
will build with us today on House 2,
home of Dawnette Dixon.
President Carter will give the
morning welcome to the Queens
volunteers during breakfast before
everyone heads to their houses to
complete as much work as possible.
In both Staten Island and Queens,
partnership celebrations will take
place with the homeowners before it’s
group photo time!
2013 CWP Closing Ceremony
Are you ready to celebrate the
THANK YOU for building with
close of this momentous week?
Habitat New York City during the
Come celebrate with us tonight at
Carter Work Project. We have
the Richmond County Bank
rebuilt 5 homes in Queens which
Ballpark, home of the Staten Island
will be enjoyed by 5 amazing and
Yankees. We will celebrate the end
• 2:00pm Partnership Celebrations
hard-working families, and we’ve
of the 2013 Carter Work Project
rebuilt 10 homes affected by Super-
• 2:30pm Volunteers board shuttles
to Carter’s street for Photos
that took place over 4 states, built
Storm Sandy in which many of
or repaired dozens of homes, and
these homeowners will be
All volunteers building today will
have an opportunity to take a house
photo with President Carter! Here is
the rundown for today:
Queens
• 3:00pm Group Photos with Carter
• 3:30pm All volunteers board
shuttles to Staten Island
Staten Island
• 2:30pm Start end-of-day clean-up
on job sites
• 3:00pm Home dedications
• 3:45pm Volunteers board shuttles
at communal tent for closing
ceremony at SI Yankee Stadium
• 4:30pm Volunteers line up for
house photos at ballpark
• 4:45pm Carter arrives at Stadium
for house photos with Staten Island
volunteers
5:15pm Closing Ceremony
Begins!
touched so many lives.
returning to their homes for the
first time since the storm,
FROM THE EDITOR
almost 1 year ago.
From myself and Sylvia Zw
issler, Habitat
NYC’s Carter Work Project
Director, we want
to thank you so much for
your dedication,
hard work, and patience.
We hope everyone
has enjoyed building with us
and will continue
to support Habitat NYC futu
re efforts to
provide decent, affordable
housing to families
in need.
Jennifer Swift
Carter Work Project Coordin
ator
“Why I Volunteer
with Habitat for
Humanity NYC”
QUEENS
by Susanna Berger
Garth Brooks and Trisha
Yearwood join Citi at House 1
West End Collegiate Church Volunteer
•••
I had been looking for ways to support
New York's efforts to rebuild after
Sandy, beyond financial donations to
charities, when West End Collegiate
Church (WECC) announced our
donation to Habitat. I jumped at the
opportunity to get involved, having no
idea how much I would receive
though, in raising my hand to help
organize the 1000 hour commitment. Over the course of the past few
months I've met the most amazing
people – from my church, gifted
AmeriCorps volunteers and fellow
NYC volunteers. Everyone arrives to
the sites with arms open, to teach and
learn, to help homeowners repair their
homes. Each time, I'm overcome by
the feeling of gratitude to even be
involved with the build. What a
blessing to join with others who
believe that together we can really
change people's lives. It's been a gift to
help Habitat and I look forward to
continuing my service long after our
donation is complete.
Bo Miller, President of the Dow
Chemical Foundation
HOMEOWNER PROFILE: DAISY AND MARCO
Daisy Rodriguez and her son Marco A.
Almachi will be purchasing one the
Queens homes rebuilt during the
Carter Work Project (House 1). Daisy
is a customer service representative
for JC Penny and Marco A. Almachi
is a sales associate for Macy’s.
Daisy’s husband, Marco Almachi, is
an independent taxi driver. They
also have a 22 year-old daughter
who also works at Macy’s parttime. The family currently lives in
Cypress Hills, Brooklyn and was
referred to Habitat from a partner
community organization, Cypress Hills
Development Corporation.
STATEN ISLAND
House 1 and 2
in Staten Island
House 3 volunteers!
1985: Keeping the promise alive in New
York City
I’m an original shareholder in the Mascot Flats building. We joined in
1985; work had already begun and the Carters were already involved, so I
don’t have any memory of it not being associated with them. I think so
highly of them, and I’m so proud that Rosalynn Carter did the metal
channel that frames my kitchen and living room.
It was a burned-out shell of a building that had been built in 1908 or
something like that. They had to build a temporary access stairway to
even be able to get in and start clearing it out. David Geiger was the
architect, and he did an amazing job of creating nice spaces within this
shell he was given. He was just the nicest guy, and he would come around
and give little tips about how to put in a wood floor and things like that. It was just really thoughtful
and lovely, what he did. He was an unsung hero, I think.
The Lower East Side was my neighborhood already — and I think that was true of almost all of the
homesteaders. To have new, quality apartments at an affordable housing cost in our neighborhood and
to be able to stay there was really great. Even at the time, we were all getting priced out of our
neighborhood — and certainly since then, we really have been.
A lot of the original shareholders I met and became close with as we were working on the building
have parents and cousins living around the neighborhood, and I’ve gotten to know them, too. So it’s
really been kind of a neighborhood preservation project, I would say.
There are a lot of interesting people here making great contributions. Somebody on our board
started an anti-discrimination/social justice training program for young people that he’s been running
for at least 20 years, and someone who’s a law firm secretary teaches dance to children on the
weekends. I’m a secretary in the research department of a hospital in the neighborhood. We’ve got a
subway motor man; a school security officer; a musician; somebody who works in a bank.
We’re working very hard at keeping the affordable housing promise going. It’s like an ongoing project,
and people in our building are working in the same spirit of the Habitat volunteers who helped us.
We’re continuing that work on our own behalf, but also to keep it available for people like us in the
future.
— Ann Rupel, as told to Megan Frank
Volunteer
Profile
The Door Restaurant
The Door Restaurant in
Jamaica, Queens is an
authentic caribbean
restaurant that has
generously donated breakfast
and lunch every day for the
Queens portion of the
Carter Work Project. The
Door has fueled our Queens
volunteers with delicious
Jamaican dishes and New
York favorites like