After four years of service as Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newburgh, Matthew Arbolino will be stepping down and his final day will be July 31.

Originally from the Town of Newburgh, Arbolino and his siblings were always involved, through the encouragement of their parents, in various programs or service activities in their local community.

In October of 1999, Habitat Newburgh first opened its doors and Arbolino was in middle school at that time. Hearing about Habitat Newburgh back then, Arbolino did not grasp the concept of the organization right away until many years later.

Arbolino graduated from Newburgh Free Academy and continued his education at the University of Connecticut. After graduation, Arbolino pursued work in the New England region, worked in the corporate field in California and then worked in New York City. Arbolino also worked and resided for a time in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, in their Education and Program Coordination offices before returning stateside.

Prior to his appointment as executive director in October of 2018, Arbolino had served for the past two and a half years as Habitat Newburgh’s Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator. “I got to work a ton with the volunteers and that was always cool. I spent a lot of time on the [Habitat] sites and at the ReStore,” Arbolino said.

In total, he has worked and served with Habitat Newburgh for the past 7 years. “I’ve spent almost seven years with the organization,” Arbolino said. “I started working here almost, not immediately, but very soon after I moved back, not just to Newburgh, but to the country [USA]. This was really a coming home for me.”

In recent months during Arbolino’s tenure, Habitat Newburgh hosted their 23rd annual Walk for Housing which raised $30,000 in donations, were the recipients of a $2 million donation from American author and philanthropist, MacKenzie Scott and celebrated the dedication and sale of their 102nd Habitat home here in the City of Newburgh. Arbolino also shared the Habitat ReStore, despite the pandemic, recorded and celebrated their highest sales year ever.

Arbolino was also grateful for the amount of donations and volunteers that came out to support the mission of Habitat Newburgh in the face of the crisis. “Our funders, our donors, our volunteers came out in mass to help out,” Arbolino said.

Within the last few years, the conversation and topic of housing and homelessness have become a forefront topic of discussion at the national level and through Habitat Newburgh’s efforts, raising awareness can help address the housing issue.

While it is bittersweet for Arbolino to be stepping away from the organization, he plans to remain close to the organization and support their endeavors however he can. For now, Arbolino will be spending time with his family and looks forward to the future work of Habitat Newburgh.

“No one person has ever built a house, no one person has ever had a successful ReStore, no one person has ever trained and worked with all the families. It takes a whole bunch of people to do it,” Arbolino said. “I can’t wait to see what Habitat Newburgh does from afar.”

No official announcement has been made on a new executive director for Habitat Newburgh. Arbolino said Habitat Newburgh was in the process of conducting a search and hiring a new executive director.