President Jimmy Carter, who died Sunday at age 100, is leaving a lasting legacy after decades of work and one of the causes he cherished most, according to those who volunteered with him.
Since 1984, Carter and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, have been “a disruptive champion and voice for affordable and decent housing for all.” The habitat of humanity. The Carters donated their time and influence and worked with nearly 103,000 volunteers from 14 countries to build, renovate and repair 4,331 homes, the nonprofit said.
Thomas Trumble shakes hands with former President Jimmy Carter at a Carter Work Project site in South Africa in 2002.
Courtesy of Thomas Trumble
Rhode Island-based builder and designer Kenneth Young, 66, first began volunteering for Habitat for Humanity in the 1990s. After doing the “Carter build” in 1995 in Watts, California, a suburb south of Los Angeles, he “got the bug,” he told ABC News.
Since then, Young has done 20 builds, many with the 39th president of the United States, including Carter’s latest build in Nashville in 2019, Young said.
Young’s favorite story about Carter was during a construction site in Budapest, Hungary, in 1996, when residents of a newly built house — twin children — hit him in the face with a balloon and Carter, a grandfather himself, “took it. He steps up” and smiles.
“It was a classic,” Young said.
Kenneth Young poses with former President Jimmy Carter at a Carter Work Project in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles in 1985.
Courtesy of Kenneth Young
Don Shaw and Thomas Trumble — lifelong friends who have volunteered together for decades at the Hartford, Connecticut chapter of Habitat for Humanity — first worked with Carter in 2002 in Durban, South Africa, they told ABC News.
A major focus of the construction was apartheid reconciliation, and the project was part of Carter’s goal of building 1,000 homes in Africa, Shaw said.
Don Shaw poses with former President Jimmy Carter on a plane back to the US after being built in Haiti on December 2, 2012.
Courtesy of Don Shaw
Shaw and Trumble met with Carter in Mexico, India, Thailand, Canada and twice in Haiti, they said. They were also with Carter during his last build in Nashville.
Volunteers were often on first-name terms with Carter, who made them feel like part of his “inner circle,” Shaw said.
Although Carter’s celebrity and political status often brought a media circus and additional funding, the former president also knew how to get his hands dirty with volunteers.
On the job, Carter was a natural leader, Young said.
Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, help build homes as part of a week-long nationwide project with Habitat for Humanity in Baltimore, Oct. 5, 2010.
Baltimore Sun via Getty Images
Carter’s presence alone was enough to motivate everyone to work hard and efficiently. The builds Carter led were “a logistical miracle,” Shaw said, and it was often surprising to see how many homes the team could build in a single week.
“President Carter, too the army man, and having that military background., he wants well. He wants to do it right. And he wants it on time,” Young said.
After falling and injuring himself at his home, former President Jimmy Carter helps build homes at a Habitat for Humanity project on Oct. 7, 2019, in Nashville, Tenn.
Mark Humphrey/AP
Shaw nicknamed Carter a “benevolent worker,” she said.
“President Carter was about getting the job done,” Shaw said. “I remember walking around the site saying, ‘No pictures, no pictures.’ We have houses to build. Come back.”
After an eight-hour day of work, volunteers would gather under a large tent and share a meal, Trumble said.
One of Carter’s favorite rituals was walking through completed houses to hand out keys and a Bible to new residents, Young said.
“He really cares about the people we’re building,” Young said.
Former President Jimmy Carter works at a construction site as 100 homes are being built as part of the Jimmy Carter Jobs Project 2002 at Cato Manor, north of Durban, South Africa.
Rajesh Jantilal/AFP via Getty Images
Carter will be sorely missed, volunteers said.
“God knows we will all miss President Carter when he leaves us, but I hope his legacy will go on for a very long time,” Young said.
Shaw said: “Having the Carters around was magical.”
