How Habitat helped shape former first lady Rosalynn Carter
For over 30 years, former first lady Rosalynn Carter dedicated her voice, time and energy to building and advocating for affordable housing alongside Habitat. She once sat down with us to share why the mission of a decent, affordable home kept her coming back year after year.
For over 30 years, former first lady Rosalynn Carter dedicated her voice, time and energy to building and advocating for affordable housing alongside Habitat. Through her tireless work, she helped build thousands of homes and touched the lives of homeowners and volunteers across the world.
She once sat down with us to share how Habitat’s life-changing work impacted her and why the mission of a decent, affordable home kept her coming back year after year.
Q: What does home mean to you?
A: My home is a haven for me. Jimmy and I do a lot of things, and I am always glad to get back home. My things are there. My memories are there. It is just security and safety for me.
Q: Why is a home important for families?
A: We have been with Habitat for so long and have seen so many people finally have a home. It really does change their lives and the lives of their whole family. It gives them a sense of belonging, a sense of self-esteem. When somebody has a home, they don’t have to struggle as much to find a place to stay. They have more time for family, more time for children. It is just life-changing.
Q: Why do you build with Habitat year after year?
A: If you could see the expression on the faces of the people when we give them a Bible and the keys to their house, you would know why. It is just so inspiring. It is really emotional. We always cry. It’s the families that keep us going.”
Q: What do you hope families have learned from you?
A: I hope they feel that we really care about them and that they have a home to live in.
Q: What have you learned from Habitat families?
A: I have become aware of the great needs of people who don’t have a home. Their values are just the same as ours. They want an opportunity to have good lives. That is what Habitat is about. It just makes you want to keep building more houses.
Q: What has it been like building with Habitat?
A: The first house we ever worked on was in New York City. It was an old burned out building — the rafters were charred where people had been burning stuff to keep warm.
I told Jimmy that I would help with the food, that I was not going to do hammering. The only thing I had ever done was to nail a nail into the wall to hang a picture. Jimmy asked me and some other women to pry up some linoleum from the floor. Just before we finished, somebody brought some boards for us to nail down. The first day, I was hammering.
I am a fairly accomplished carpenter now. I’ve even framed a door, which is not easy. I never dreamed I would be a carpenter. And I really enjoy doing it, too. It is so much fun to see a house go up.
Q: What’s it like building with Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks?
A: They are wonderful workers — they work solid all day long. I have seen her lying on her back on a rafter hammering. I have been impressed from the first year they came, and they have come a good many now.
Q: What’s it like building alongside President Carter?
A: We do most things together, but this is so different. It is a good feeling to be together with him. Some of our children go with us almost every time. It is just a wonderful, wonderful experience.
Q: Why people should volunteer with Habitat?
A: So many people want to do something good and don’t know what to do. For anybody who wants to get involved with an organization, there is nothing that they could do that would give them such a life-changing experience as Habitat.
This is something that brings together people who have everything they need and those who don’t have so many things we take for granted. You come to know the homeowner and love the homeowner and their family. It makes you aware and care about the people and hope they have good lives and good homes.
It has made me a better person.
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How Habitat helped shape former first lady Rosalynn Carter
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Habitat Magazine
Habitat Magazine illustrates the mission at the center of all our work – ensuring people in our communities and around the world can achieve the safety and stability of affordable homeownership. Journey through the impact of Habitat with our collection of Habitat Magazine issues.
Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar rings in the holiday season with DIY gingerbread house kits that support affordable housing
A home where hope blossoms
After her partner died, Dina feared that she would be unable to make ends meet on a single income and wanted nothing more than to provide a safe and stable home for her daughters. Now, her dreams are coming true with support from Habitat and Wells Fargo Builds.
Homeowner
“This is going to be our last address,” Dina says with a laugh of joy and relief. The mother of two has wanted nothing more than to provide a safe and stable home for her daughters, 11-year-old Gabby and 6-year-old Cecilia. Now that she’s partnering with Habitat for Humanity of Denton County to build a home of her own, Dina’s dreams are coming true. “Habitat is awesome and a blessing to open doors for families like us,” she says.
The new home represents a bright and hopeful new beginning for Dina and her daughters. When her partner died, Dina feared that she would be unable to make ends meet on a single income and she would be forced to move her family. “I felt like it was going to be really hard for me to maintain that monthly payment on the lease,” says Dina, who works at a middle school as a registrar. She also worried about needed repairs and safety concerns in her rental home, including low-hanging electrical wires in the backyard.
Dina’s fears for the future began to fade when saw an advertisement for Habitat Denton County. “I saw an ad that said Habitat was opening applications for families that wanted to apply, and I went for it,” she says.
Building a brighter future
Once Dina was approved for Habitat’s homeownership program, she was excited to complete her sweat-equity hours by working alongside other families and volunteers, and she’s become a welcome presence while helping out at the local Habitat ReStore. “She’ll do whatever it takes, whatever we need, and she does it with a huge smile on her face,” says Lora Blakeslee Atkinson, executive director of Habitat Denton County.
Dina’s new home will be twice the size of her rental home. Gabby and Cecilia will have their own rooms, and Dina will pay an affordable mortgage — less than what she currently pays in rent, allowing her to enroll her daughters in extracurricular activities. “The little one wants to do soccer, the other wants to join orchestra, and I’m going to be able to afford these things for them,” says Dina.
A grant from Wells Fargo Builds was integral to supporting the construction of Dina’s home. “It was wonderful when they chose us for this round of funding,” says Lora. “It really did make a difference on Dina’s home and allows us to build because of their generosity.”
“Everyone deserves a decent place to live, and housing stability is foundational for all humanity,” says M. Isabel Barnes, a Wells Fargo commercial banking relationship manager who has volunteered with Habitat Denton County. “At Wells Fargo, we want to be able to create pathways for families to have access to affordable, safe and quality homes and be able to focus on what’s important so our communities can grow and develop.”
Little hands, big dreams
Gabby and Cecilia are making plans for their new rooms. “I took them yesterday to go see what we have done at the house so far,” says Dina. “And they go, ‘I want to put my bed this way, and I want to put my bookshelf right here.’ It’s just exciting to see them happy.”
Soon, the girls will also have a safe place to play where they can dream up new adventures, including building a fairy garden in the yard. “Every time we go to the store, they go to the garden section, and they find the little stones and find the little fairies,” says Dina, who is looking forward to planting roses and vegetables.
The family of three will be moving into their new home in time to celebrate the holidays. Dina’s already thinking about where a Christmas tree will go. “In the house where we are now, a Christmas tree doesn’t fit. We tried to get a little one,” says Dina. “I can’t wait to have a Christmas tree, an actual Christmas tree, for the girls to have in the living room.”
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A home where hope blossoms
HFH of Kansas City ReStore- Lenexa
Research series: How does housing impact health?
The CDC identified housing as an important social determinant of health, highlighting the link between where people live and their health. This evidence brief summarizes research on key factors to improving health through housing in populations with low incomes and illustrates how the work of Habitat for Humanity contributes to positive health outcomes.
Volunteer raises and tears down walls with Habitat Tucson
Kevin Walters has long been a champion of decent and affordable housing. In 2012, he helped revive Habitat Tucson’s Rainbow Build, a build funded by LGBTQ+ organizations and individuals during which hundreds of LGBTQ+ community members and allies come together to volunteer.
Kevin Walters has long been a champion of decent and affordable housing. For decades, he volunteered with organizations devoted to helping families secure safe and stable shelter in his home state of Virginia.
After moving to Arizona several years ago, he was naturally drawn to Habitat for Humanity Tucson’s mission to increase housing affordability in his new community.
“Housing has always been important to me — going all the way back to my grandmother’s house where I was raised. And Habitat makes it easy to give back,” says Kevin. “You can come in with a new idea, and they’ll just take that and run with it and make it happen. It encourages volunteers to do more because we know there’s a willing group of people who wants to support us.”
As a member of Habitat Tucson’s Home and Community Design Committee, Kevin uses his background in feng shui and urban planning to help ensure that every completed home is designed to be an open, accessible, productive and healing space for all. He wants to make sure every home under construction and every Habitat work site are that way, too.
A renewed commitment
In 2005, Habitat Tucson held its first-ever Rainbow Build, which brought together lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community members to make a hands-on impact on the growing housing crisis.
The build also helped shed light on how that crisis disproportionately impacts the LGBTQ+ community. The successful event brought together a diverse array of organizations and people to work alongside a southern Arizona family as they built their forever home. However, without someone to lead them, subsequent events were put on hold.
“I knew there are so many people in the community that would like to help, but we weren’t asking them,” says Kevin. “So I took it on to ask them.” In 2012, the Rainbow Build was reborn.
Under Kevin’s leadership, Habitat Tucson’s Rainbow Build has built six homes alongside families in need of decent and affordable housing. The homes were made possible by funding from LGBTQ+ organizations and individuals and constructed by hundreds of LGBTQ+ community members and allies.
“It started with Kevin having an amazing idea on how to make low-income housing better,” says T. VanHook, CEO of Habitat Tucson. “But in that quest to change homes, he changed a lot of lives.”
A lasting imprint
In addition to the friendships they take away, one of the most meaningful aspects of every Rainbow Build is what Kevin and other participants leave behind. At the site of every build, a rainbow flag is raised and signed by the volunteers and donors contributing to the home’s construction.
“It’s energy. It’s passing positive, incredibly loving energy from all those people to this object which will carry that energy through to the house,” says Kevin.
“People don’t always think about energy, but everything you do leaves an imprint,” he adds. “You want to be sure it’s the best imprint you can possibly leave.”
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Volunteer raises and tears down walls with Habitat Tucson
Building homes, connections with the LGBTQ+ community
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Austin HFH ReStore- Northwest Austin
The power of volunteering
On his first day as a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sacramento, sometime in the mid-1980s, Cliff Popejoy, an air quality scientist, decided to give the electricians a hand. Although seemingly simple at the time, that decision would go on to change the trajectory of Cliff’s life in ways he couldn’t have imagined.
On his first day as a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sacramento, sometime in the mid-1980s, Cliff Popejoy, an air quality scientist, was presented with a choice: help insulate the home or wire it. Despite his limited electrical experience, he opted to give the electricians a hand. Although seemingly simple at the time, that decision would go on to change the trajectory of Cliff’s life in ways he couldn’t have imagined.
In the weeks to come, Cliff became a regular on the all-volunteer electrical crew — a group dedicated to completing the electrical work on every new and renovated Habitat Greater Sacramento home. Under the mentorship of the crew’s leader, he spent most Saturdays running, splicing and connecting wires to power Habitat homes. “There were about a dozen of us,” he says of that first cohort. “We were constantly learning and improving. And Bill, our leader, he led our band of amateurs valiantly.”
After working side by side for several years, when Bill needed to step down, he asked Cliff if he would take on the role of crew leader. Cliff, honored by the request and encouraged by his crewmates, humbly accepted. “I will do you proud,” he promised Bill.
Going all in
For the next 20 years, Cliff has held tight to that promise. “In the beginning, I studied and studied while looking for ways I could get more expertise and experience in the field,” he says.
Over the decades, that mindset has led to new and unexpected opportunities. Opportunities like passing the electrical contractor exam and earning his license; leaving his long-held job as a scientist to open his own small business as a full-time electrician; becoming a nationally recognized expert in old home wiring; and writing and editing technical manuals, articles and books for tool companies, national publications and home renovation experts. All of these were accomplished while he continued to recruit, train and lead Habitat Greater Sacramento’s growing electrical crew.
Today, the crew boosts 25 active members and a total rotating rooster of 80. Crew members come from all different backgrounds and careers — including retired pharmacists, salespeople, veterans — and 40% are women. Cliff and his co-leader, Jim Campo, are working to involve more young people and people of color, helping them become skilled in an in-demand trade which could lead to career opportunities.
Powering homes, empowering people
In his more than 30 years with Habitat — 10 as a crew member and 20 as crew leader — Cliff estimates he has helped complete the wiring on roughly 95% of all new Habitat Greater Sacramento homes — helping more than 160 families achieve their dream of homeownership.
“I started on this path simply because of joy I experienced while helping people, and that joy is what kept me going,” he says. “My favorite moment is when the parents show their kids the house for the first time. Their eyes are as big as saucers. I’ve witnessed it many times — this wonder and excitement,” he says, pausing as emotion catches in his throat. “But it never gets old.”
His and the crew’s work has saved the affiliate an estimated $600,000 over the years. The quality of the crew’s work and the energy efficiency of the homes has also helped reduce the cost of power for homeowners.
“I remember Sophie and Richard’s electric utility bill was $0,” Cliff says, of a family of five who partnered with Habitat to build their first permanent home. In the summer, their solar panels pump enough energy back into the grid to offset their household’s usage in an all-electric home.
“We’re building homes to last — and that includes affordability. A family averaging $0 in electrical costs over a year? It doesn’t get any better than that.”
Guiding light
At 68, Cliff doesn’t plan on slowing down any time soon. In fact, he says he has doubled down on living life to the fullest — a worldview that puts giving to the fullest in the center. That commitment was reinforced after his first wife, Debora, an ardent champion of his work with Habitat, unexpectedly passed away in 2014.
“I’d always been an enthusiastic liver of life, but losing her was a wake-up call,” he says. “The universe was reminding me: Don’t miss an opportunity. And so here I am. Reporting for life.”
His leadership, encouragement and commitment to the electrical crew and his work with future homeowners each represents life-affirming, can’t-miss opportunities for Cliff. And, after finding love again and remarrying, he’s experiencing them all with his wife, Antonia, who has joined as a crew member.
“Habitat gave me a way to engage with the community, but also to find some sort of meaning,” he says, looking back on why the decision to spend his weekends on Habitat construction sites for the last 30 years has been a relatively easy one.
“It’s a gift to give this love, this life, back in some small way,” Cliff says.
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The power of volunteering
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