A high school duo made it their summer mission to revitalize New Hyde Park’s American Guitar Museum. Thanks to their work, the museum now dons a new, bright white fence and repaired driveway.
Rising Great Neck South High School sophomores Elizabeth Kennedy, 15, and Megan Lu, 14, who both co-founded the charity Create2Dona, sprang into action when they heard about the local guitar museum’s need for a new fence and repaved parking lot from the Lakeville Estates Civic Association.
“Personally, I have a big connection to guitars,” Kennedy said. “I think that music is a universal language. I believe it’s very important to preserve museums like this.”
She said she and Lu wanted to act before the museum closed down due to a drop in visitors after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The two raised more than $1,400 to purchase the necessary renovation materials and have been planning repairs all summer. They completed the majority of the work on Tuesday, Aug. 26, with the help of friends, family, Create2Dona members and the Gold Coast-Lake Success Rotary Club.
American Guitar Museum owner Chris Ambadjes and his son Jason Ambadjes said they were deeply grateful for the help
“It’s just great that people actually want to donate their time and energy to do something like this,” Jason Ambadjes said. “You don’t hear of stuff like this nowadays. It’s nice to see that people take an interest in their community and want to do something to help out someone else.”
The museum is a piece of New Hyde Park history. It has been standing since 1992 and holds roughly 200 guitars, banjos and mandolins, all of which Chris Ambadjes has collected over the past five decades.
Chris Ambadjes offers guitar lessons and repairs and typically displays rotating exhibits, showing off instruments from around the world and some of the rarest guitars out there.
“The instruments we have, you won’t see anywhere in the world,” said Chris Ambadjes, a longtime guitar professional who described owning the museum as a dream. “There’s instruments here from all around the world.”
Chris Ambadjes said he believes the renovated fence and driveway will help raise awareness and increase visitors to the museum, helping it bounce back after the struggles it experienced after the COVID-19 pandemic.
He’s already planning for extended opening hours through the month of September, once the repairs are complete.
Bill Cutrone, president of the Lakeville Estates Civic Association, said he was glad to see the girls helping Ambadjes and his museum out.
“The fences were falling apart. The building looked horrible…It was something that needed to be done,” Cutrone said of the repairs. “We want people to see that they have this beautiful museum on the inside, so we need people to be able to look on from the outside and say, ‘I want to stop in there. I want to see what he has.’”
The girls took on the project with the help of members of Cutrone’s board and the Gold Coast-Lake Success Rotary Club, who donated their money and time to the work. Both Kennedy and Lu are part of their school’s Interact Rotary Club.
The pair also contacted their local Nassau County Legislators, Scott Strauss and Mazi Pilip, asking for help obtaining the necessary funds to remove a piece of rebar or sharp metal pipe sticking out of the pavement near the driveway’s entrance.
The girls said they believed legislators should be concerned about the issue because of the safety hazard it presents and the problems it is causing the museum in attracting visitors, as people fear that driving over the rebar will puncture their tires.
Strauss and Pilip responded, asking the girls to provide them with a price estimate, which the two are working on obtaining. Kennedy and Lu said they will carry out that portion of their renovations once they get the necessary funding.
The girls said they thought supporting the museum was important because it allowed them to give back to their community and preserve its history.
“We felt it was very important to do this because people our age don’t always get involved with their community, and that’s something that we have a lot of pride in,” Kennedy said. “For other high schoolers out there, don’t be afraid to start small. Write the email, make the call, talk to people, because you never know who will want to help.”
The American Guitar Museum is located at 1810 New Hyde Park Road and is open on Thursdays and Saturdays. To visit, call 516-488-5000 in advance.
