Staff from the American Montessori Society’s (AMS) New York City headquarters on Aug. 1 joined Habitat for Humanity NYC to help build a home in Richmond Hill.
The American Montessori Society’s team of volunteers completed a variety of construction tasks on a single-family home being built from the ground up at 101-64 132nd St. It is the second Habitat NYC home to be constructed from the ground up in Queens and is slated for completion by year’s end.
“Volunteering with Habitat NYC was an ideal way for us to model behavior to the 16,000 educators who are members of our organization,” said Dr. Tim Purnell, the CEO of AMS. “It also concretely exemplifies our new organization mission: ‘Empowering humanity to build a better world through Montessori.’ We are honored to support the work that Habitat NYC is doing throughout the five boroughs and look forward to future collaborations.”
The American Montessori Society in New York City leads, empowers and serves the global community of Montessori educators as the foremost advocate for research and policy, ongoing teacher education, and standards of accreditation through opportunities for mentored individual growth, collaboration, and member engagement.
Underwriting the event was Montessori Outlet, a major provider of Montessori learning materials and furniture and a longtime supporter of AMS.
“We thank the staff at AMS for their dedication to Habitat for Humanity. Montessori Outlet takes community involvement very seriously and we look forward to continuing our partnership with AMS on these absolutely amazing projects,” said Isabel Orellana, general manager, of Montessori Outlet, Inc.
Habitat for Humanity NYC, founded in 1984 as an independent affiliate of Habitat for Humanity, has served more than 1,200 families in the five boroughs through home construction and preservation.
“Habitat NYC is proud to partner with AMS on this build day. Partnerships with education and community groups is always important to Habitat NYC because through intersectionality of our missions we are able to provide quality homes for a future family—improving not only their lives but also the greater community in NYC,” said Chap James Day, community giving and operations manager, Habitat NYC. “We are honored to have an organization such as AMS, that values education and service, is with us today.”
City Councilwoman Adrienne Adams showed her support for the Habitat NYC project and AMS by visiting with the volunteers at the site, located within Council District 28, which she represents.
“It is not enough to acknowledge the need for affordable housing during this housing crisis, but the issue must be readily addressed and the Richmond Hill, Queens service project implemented by the American Montessori Society and Habitat NYC is doing just that,” Adams said. “It is wonderful to see people of all backgrounds and neighborhoods come together to build affordable housing in our community. I thank Habitat NYC and The American Montessori Society for their work in my district, rehabilitating homes and using these affordable properties to transform lives.”
