The Stecher & Horowitz Foundation To Honor Margaret O. Carpenter At Gala Benefit, April 14 At NYC's Lotos Club

The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation will be honoring longtime Lawrence, NY resident Margaret O. Carpenter at its annual gala benefit evening on Friday, April 14, 2023 at New York City's Lotos Club. Ms. Carpenter is being honored for her unique and magnificent humanitarian qualities, and has been associated with the Stecher & Horowitz Foundation for more than forty years both as a board member and currently as the Foundation's Board Chair. As Chair of the Board, she has carried the Foundation to greater heights through her encouragement and perseverance.

Mssrs. Stecher and Horowitz said, "We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to pay tribute and recognize Margaret O. Carpenter. We are blessed to have Margaret for a lifetime of love, caring, and unyielding compassion."

Margaret O. Carpenter, well known as an active volunteer across many organizations in the communities of Five Towns and the Rockaways, and a member of the Episcopal Health Services, Inc., was honored in the winter of 2022 with the opening of The Margaret O. Carpenter Women's Health Center. The Center is the first comprehensive women's health center attached to the St. John's Medical Group, located at 105-38 Rockaway Beach Blvd. in Rockaway Park, and is the first health center of its kind on the peninsula. Ms. Carpenter has been instrumental in the health system's development for more than 40 years.

Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz, the Executive Directors of the Stecher and Horwitz Foundation, are internationally acknowledged as one of the most distinguished duo-pianists of their generation. For almost five decades they won critical acclaim and audience bravos throughout the world.

In the 1960s they founded and directed the Stecher and Horowitz School of the Arts in Cedarhurst, NY, becoming a non-profit organization in 1975. The school was a renowned educational institution for Long Island students of all ages and educational backgrounds and highly regarded as a center for the encouragement of creative potential through its innovative learning programs. In 1999 when the school closed to make the transition to the Stecher and Horowitz Foundation, they had a faculty of 25-30 teachers with more than 15,000 students attending during its 39-year history.

The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation is committed to furthering the education, recognition, and fostering of gifted young musicians, helping sustain and preserve the essence of cultural life through audience development and community involvement. Serving pianists ages 16-25, the Foundation seeks and develops emerging talent through its flagship programs: the New York International Piano Competition and the Young Artists Series. The Foundation mentors aspirants, helping them achieve their personal and professional goals through career guidance, artistic development, and performance opportunities. Individuality and excellence are mainstays of the Foundation's core objectives, focusing the young artists' horizons toward the pursuit of a realistic and attainable musical career.