PHOTOS: Major stars lend their hands to Habitat, building alongside President Carter and Mrs. Carter for the 35th Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project in Indiana
MISHAWAKA, Ind. (Aug. 29, 2018) — Country music stars Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood and Eric Paslay, as well as talk show host Dave Letterman swung hammers and raised walls on new Habitat for Humanity homes in St. Joseph County, Indiana, this week. The stars came to Indiana to lend their hands alongside hundreds of other volunteers at the 35th Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project.
Country superstars Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks prepare a doorway on a new Habitat for Humanity Home in Mishawaka, Indiana. Additional photos of the 35th Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project are available at www.habitat.ngo/CWPphotos. Photos may be credited to Habitat for Humanity International.
Brooks and Yearwood have been longtime supporters of Habitat for Humanity, and in 2016, were named as the first-ever Habitat Humanitarians, alongside President and Mrs. Carter. They first volunteered with Habitat in 2007, helping to build the 1,000th and 1,001st post-Katrina Habitat for Humanity home on the Gulf Coast. Since then, they have built alongside the Carters in the U.S. and abroad 10 times, and lent their support to several other Habitat initiatives.
Letterman also first began volunteering with Habitat following Hurricane Katrina, and has sponsored and helped build more than 24 homes since then. Letterman is a native of Indiana, the host state of this year’s Carter Work Project.
Country music singer and songwriter Eric Paslay and his wife, Natalie Paslay, return to the Carter Work Project for their second year, having volunteered in Edmonton, Alberta, during the 2017 work project. The Paslays also support Habitat’s annual Home is the Key campaign.
The stars have joined President and Mrs. Carter and hundreds of other volunteers as they work in what will become an all-Habitat neighborhood in Mishawaka. Twenty-two new homes are being built in that neighborhood this week, and an additional 19 homes in Mishawaka and South Bend, Indiana, will be built, renovated or repaired as part of the overall project this year.
Since 1984, President and Mrs. Carter have traveled around the world with Habitat to build and improve homes. Their time and efforts help to raise awareness of the critical need for affordable homeownership around the world. Over the first 34 work projects, President and Mrs. Carter have worked alongside more than 100,000 volunteers in 14 countries to build, renovate and repair 4,290 homes.
Additional photos of the 35th Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project are available at www.habitat.ngo/CWPphotos. Photos may be credited to Habitat for Humanity International.
About Habitat for Humanity
Driven by the vision that everyone needs a decent place to live, Habitat for Humanity began in 1976 as a grassroots effort on a community farm in southern Georgia. The Christian housing organization has since grown to become a leading global nonprofit working in local communities across all 50 states in the U.S. and in more than 70 countries. Families and individuals in need of a hand up partner with Habitat for Humanity to build or improve a place they can call home. Habitat homeowners help build their own homes alongside volunteers and pay an affordable mortgage. Through financial support, volunteering or adding a voice to support affordable housing, everyone can help families achieve the strength, stability and self-reliance they need to build better lives for themselves. Through shelter, we empower. To learn more, visit habitat.org.