An Inside Look at the ConstructConnect® Team Behind AEC Cares | #ProjectBoston

In brief:

• AEC Cares brings collectively structure, engineering, and development professionals to provide again to communities by means of impactful renovation tasks.
• This 12 months’s occasion targeted on renovating the Catholic Charities Teen Middle at St. Peter’s in Boston, creating welcoming and useful areas for native teenagers.
• The AEC Cares Steering Committee managed planning, coordination, and execution, making certain the venture’s success by means of teamwork and volunteerism.
• Upgrades included reworked leisure areas, a brand new music room, a weight room, a dance studio, and refreshed communal areas.
• The renovated Teen Middle provides a secure and provoking setting, fostering development, studying, and optimistic growth for native youth.

On Wednesday, June 4, greater than 100 volunteers from the structure, engineering, and development (AEC) trade gathered in Boston for an annual day of service by means of AEC Cares,  a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit group of which ConstructConnect® is a founding member and first organizer. AEC Cares was based in 2011 by members of the structure, engineering, and development trade who shared a imaginative and prescient of giving again to communities in want. Annually, AEC Cares engages trade professionals in a volunteer occasion coinciding with the annual AIA Convention on Structure & Design. Previous places have included Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Orlando, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.

This 12 months’s volunteers participated in its 2025 Day of Service renovating the Catholic Charities Teen Middle at St. Peter’s. Though the transformation happened in sooner or later, this venture was made potential by over a 12 months of planning and coordination by the AEC Cares Steering Committee, a small group of volunteer group members at ConstructConnect who’re answerable for every little thing from scouting out the positioning of every 12 months’s AEC Cares venture, working with professional bono designers to outline the scope of the renovations, and making certain every venture has the sponsors and volunteers it must succeed.

“AEC Cares is dedicated to altering areas and lives by means of community-focused renovation tasks, due to the efforts of trade volunteers by means of the coordination of our Steering Committee,” stated Jennifer Johnson, President of the AEC Cares Board of Administrators and ConstructConnect Chief Product Officer. “Our story is considered one of group, dedication, and the idea that small actions can result in large adjustments, 12 months after 12 months.”

On the day of service itself, the Steering Committee dealt with prepping the positioning, checked in volunteers, and rolled up their sleeves to carry the imaginative and prescient to life alongside these volunteers. Their work not solely embodies ConstructConnect’s mission to energy the folks and tasks that construct thriving communities but additionally exhibits their dedication to service.

The 2025 award recipient, The Catholic Charities Teen Center at St. Peter’s, serves adolescents in Dorchester’s Bowdoin-Geneva neighborhood, offering after-school and summer season applications that construct vanity and develop instruments for tutorial and private development. This 12 months’s renovation spanned two flooring and a number of room sorts on the Teen Middle. The doorway space and hallway on the primary flooring have been refreshed to create a extra welcoming environment. The basement degree noticed an entire redesign, together with freshly painted and refinished loos, a totally furnished fashionable recreation area, music room, weight room, dance studio, and cafeteria area. New flooring, ceiling tiles, paint, furnishings, finishes, and lighting have been added to each flooring to create a extra inviting area.

Because the mud on this venture settled, we spoke with members of the AEC Cares Steering Committee about their expertise and this 12 months’s #AECCaresProject. Hold studying for a behind the scenes take a look at this venture from the individuals who deliberate it.

What number of years have you ever been concerned with AEC Cares, and what’s your position on the Steering Committee?

“I’ve been concerned with AEC Cares for the reason that very first venture in New Orleans in 2011. Throughout that venture we renovated 5 homes after the devastation of hurricane Katrina to assist the group get again on their ft. This 12 months, I served as venture supervisor for this 12 months’s Steering Committee. A few of my core obligations included discovering, visiting, and recommending potential websites for AEC Cares to renovate. After touchdown on Catholic Charities Boston’s Teen Middle, I labored intently with our professional bono design group and basic contractor in addition to Catholic Charities Boston to make sure we had every little thing we wanted to make this venture successful.”

– John Royster AEC Cares Board Member and ConstructConnect Vice President, Buyer Help & Operations

“Though I assisted with final 12 months’s AEC Cares venture in Washington D.C. after becoming a member of ConstructConnect in Might of 2024, this was my first full 12 months serving on the Steering Committee because the social media supervisor. I assist inform the story of the venture—highlighting the mission, folks concerned, and the impression we’re making. I concentrate on creating content material that shares what AEC Cares is all about, giving shoutouts to our wonderful sponsors, and exhibiting the transformation that occurs on our construct day. It’s a group effort, and I’m glad I get to play a component in serving to extra folks see the nice that comes out of this work!”

– Julie Riley AEC Cares Steering Committee Member and ConstructConnect Social Media Supervisor

“I’ve been concerned in AEC Cares for 5 years and 4 tasks. I’ve taken on much more accountability within the Steering Committee this 12 months, going from solely dealing with the meals and drinks for volunteers to extra behind-the-scenes work. This 12 months I assisted with coordinating with our professional bono design groups, managing paperwork for the venture, and organizing the supplies and specs that got to us by the design group.”

– Tiffany Moehrke AEC Cares Steering Committee Member and ConstructConnect Supervisor, Buyer Operations

What impressed you to become involved with AEC Cares?

“It is one factor to plan these occasions; it’s one other to be a part of the renovation itself and to see the impression it has. I’ll always remember about these two eight-year-old boys that hopped on our volunteer bus in 2016 proper after we reworked their youth heart. Each walked down the aisle of the bus and hugged each single volunteer and thanked them for remodeling their area. After that, I used to be hooked.”

– Derek Guffey AEC Cares Board Member and ConstructConnect Vice President, Gross sales

“I’ve had a mushy spot for volunteer work since I used to be younger. It began once I used to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. I liked seeing the direct, seen impression these tasks had on communities. It was an analogous sentiment that drew me to AEC Cares; the possibility to be a part of one thing hands-on, the place you’ll be able to see the transformation occur proper in entrance of you. Since I’ve develop into concerned in AEC Cares, I’ve additionally been impressed by the varieties of organizations we help. Every of the charities we’ve helped are doing extremely significant work and really deserve the assistance.”

– Ayzia Baros AEC Cares Steering Committee Member and ConstructConnect Senior Buyer Care Supervisor

“I actually worth that ConstructConnect helps initiatives like AEC Cares—it exhibits our dedication to giving again in an actual, hands-on means. A lot of my day is spent behind a display screen, and this offers me an opportunity to step away from the pc and be bodily current locally. It’s rewarding to contribute to one thing so tangible and significant alongside others in our trade.”

– Kelsey Erhart AEC Cares Steering Committee Member and ConstructConnect On-line Content material & Neighborhood Supervisor

What’s your favourite a part of this 12 months’s venture?

“My favourite a part of this 12 months’s venture was the listening tour and brainstorming session AEC Cares had with the kids who use the area. After this occurred, I bought to listen to about what they envision for the renovated area. Getting to listen to them reimagine their areas to be extra welcoming and useful was such a particular a part of the design and made the outcomes of this venture much more private.”

– Blaise Bornhorst AEC Cares Steering Committee Member and ConstructConnect Engagement Senior Supervisor

“What excites me most this 12 months is the wide-reaching impression of the venture—particularly for the children. Creating an area the place they’ll really feel secure, study, develop, and simply be youngsters throughout essentially the most adolescence of their lives is one thing I’m extremely proud to be a part of and I can’t wait to see the result of this 12 months’s venture.”

– Kate Wenzel AEC Cares Steering Committee Member and ConstructConnect Director, Model & Digital Advertising

“I am initially from Connecticut and spent a big a part of my life in Boston, so having this 12 months’s venture in Dorchester feels prefer it’s taking place proper in my outdated yard. That makes this venture that rather more particular to me.”

– Brittani Phillips AEC Cares Steering Committee Member and ConstructConnect Senior Built-in Advertising Supervisor

“Giving youngsters an area that’s secure, enjoyable, and works effectively for them will make an enormous distinction of their lives. Seeing the distinction an act of kindness could make in somebody’s life is so significant. I needed to be a part of one thing that builds a brighter future and makes an enduring impression.”

– Daybreak Reiner AEC Cares Steering Committee Member and ConstructConnect Senior Occasions Supervisor

To see the outcomes of #AECCaresProejctBoston try this coverage from CBS Information.Click here if you’re occupied with volunteering, donating, or sponsoring the AEC Cares Day of Service in 2026.