Showing posts with label Ron Darling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ron Darling. Show all posts

Friday, July 15, 2011

Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez give an assist to Habitat for Humanity in Brooklyn

The New York Mets Alumni Association presented by Citi teamed up with Habitat for Humanity in Brooklyn earlier Friday for their “100 Homes in Brooklyn” project. Current SNY broadcasters and Mets alumni Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez represented the team at the Brownsville site. 


Both players address the media at the ceremony. Darling was grateful to be a part of the construction process.

“Both Keith and I are humbled by our opportunity to represent the Mets here,” Darling said. “For the Mets to include Keith and I with Habitat for Humanity and Citi, how great is that? To be able to put a roof over someone’s head, I don’t know if there is any better feeling you can have.”

Darling volunteered in New Orleans with his family in support of Habitat for Humanity. He enjoyed seeing his work come to fruition.

“I wasn’t down there volunteering as Ron Darling; I was just another guy with his family helping out. It was rewarding for the people that take part in it," he said. "The volunteers should be commended. At some point, your sweat equity and hard work will have someone indoors this winter.”

Josh Lockwood, the Executive Director of New York City’s Habitat for Humanity, discussed their valuable relationship with the New York Mets. He described how the relationship has grown over the past few years.

“This is the third year that the Mets alumni have been coming out to build with us,” Lockwood said. “It started a few years ago when the 1969 Mets completed our largest project ever. Last year and this year, we’ve had great philanthropically minded alumni coming out helping to build Habitat homes alongside the families that will live there.”

With the help of New York City officials, Habitat for Humanity has been able to acquire the land for basically free, providing they build affordable housing. The tremendous community interest in the dwellings has motivated them to work harder.

“We had a 41 home project a couple blocks away from here and that project had 10,000 applications for those homes,” he said. “It really inspired us to try and do more and build more. That’s led to an initiative to 100 homes in Brooklyn, and these 12 homes are going towards that.”

Georgette Lee, one of the people who was awarded one of the coveted homes, had a tremendous appreciation for the chance to have her part of the American dream. Today, it was a reality.

“I applied in March and was accepted April 1st,”  said Lee, who is looking forward to staying in the community where she was raised. “I met the income requirement, the credit check and I worked 200 sweat equity hours, which I did in five weeks.

“I think it is a wonderful opportunity because for years and years, I never thought I would be able to own anything in New York. To get the opportunity to not only own, but to help build and stay in the community where I was brought up is great.”