President Carter standing next to a Habitat homeowner and build team

A man and his mission

In 1991, President Carter called Habitat for Humanity “a singular, divine concept that has opened a vision to me.”

That vision — a world of housebuilding people helping each other and themselves — took him to build sites across the United States and around the world.

For more than three decades, President and Mrs. Carter worked alongside those who had also glimpsed the possibility of a world where everyone has a decent place to live.

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God gives us the capacity for choice. We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace.” — President Carter

President Carter brought many to Habitat’s work, including his former vice president Walter Mondale, who worked alongside the Carters in Minnesota in 2010.

President Carter often lauded “the right not only to have a place to live but to have it be your own.” The Carters first began building with Habitat in 1984.

“When combined, the individual contributors of caring, friendship, forgiveness and love can form a phalanx, an army, with great capability.”

“Some of my most memorable experiences were when I joined other volunteers and worked to exhaustion building a house alongside the family who would live there.”

President Carter always connected with volunteers and future homeowners and played a very real role in the construction of decent, affordable houses.

President and Mrs. Carter working side by side — as they did here in Charlotte, North Carolina — was a familiar sight to many for more than 30 years.

Another familiar sight was the depth of their devotion to each other, true partners in life and service.

“I’ve had a wonderful life. I’ve got thousands of friends, and I’ve had an adventurous existence. I have been as blessed as any human being in the world.”