CHARLOTTE (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — The news of former President Jimmy Carter’s death brings to mind a small but significant impact he had on Charlotte after he left office.
In the mid-1980s, former President Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, started volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. In 1987, a Carter Work Project took place in Charlotte that had active participation by the couple in building homes that eventually helped over 300 families.
The Carter Work Project returned to Charlotte in 2023 but with a notable absence. Both former President Carter and Rosalynn were in poor health, with Carter having gone into hospice earlier that year.
Rosalynn Carter died a month after the Carter Work Project started their work in Charlotte.
Officials at Habitat for Humanity for the Charlotte Region noted that much of the work they have done has touches of what the Carters brought to the organization.
“They have their fingerprints and impact imprint…on the origins of our affiliate,” said President and CEO Laura Belcher.
Images courtesy of Habitat Charlotte Region
Belcher noted concerns with the 2023 project and the Carters’ lack of involvement, but the volunteers’ presence alleviated those concerns.
“We had nearly 3,000 volunteers come in from across the country. We built 27 homes. And so I think that the idea of honoring what the Carters started is really important,” said Belcher.
Former President Carter was once asked about his involvement with the organization and said, “That’s the times in my life when I have wept more than any other. For excitement and gratification, that I was privileged to participate with my wife in such a great project.”
The Carter Work Project will continue its work in 2025, with a build in Texas.
