Habitat for Humanity has always been driven by one ideal: a world where everyone has a decent place to live. Can you picture what that might look like?
Our two most famous volunteers, former President and Mrs. Carter, have done more than simply imagine; they’ve taken hammer and trowel in hand and helped move us closer to that vision. Habitat’s 30th Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project, which begins Sunday in five cities, will once again shine the spotlight on the need for simple, decent housing by bringing together volunteers and families to build, repair and renovate homes.
The Carters first volunteered with Habitat in the early 1980s. After leaving the White House, the former president and first lady looked for meaningful ways to contribute to social justice and human rights, two issues they have championed throughout their lives. This search, in part, led them to volunteer for a day with Habitat in Americus, near their home in Plains.
That first volunteer experience soon led the Carters to dedicate a week each year to work alongside Habitat partner families around the world. Beginning in 1984 with the renovation of a burned-out six-story building on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, the Carters and more than 88,000 volunteers have helped build or repair more than 3,800 homes.
Along the way, the Carters have celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on a build site in Chicago; they’ve camped out with volunteers around the world, and they’ve done countless interviews and appearances to raise awareness about the need for adequate and affordable shelter.
The Carters continue their amazing efforts in support of Habitat because they believe simple, decent houses create profound possibilities for the families who live in them. In 30 years of building, their work has helped create a beautiful mosaic of homes, communities and hope. In India, the house the Carters helped build enabled the family to afford transportation to school for their children. In Miami, a decent Habitat house meant Virginia Marshall could leave a housing project and return to the neighborhood where she grew up.
Through the years, the Carters’ involvement also has helped us develop a community of people who care about housing, and as a result, we’ve seen phenomenal growth.
Since 1976, Habitat has built or repaired more than 600,000 homes and served more than 3 million people worldwide. We celebrate each time we can help families improve their housing situations, but we keep looking forward because of the great need around the world. Today, an estimated 828 million people live in urban slums. Additionally, a lack of clean water and sanitation claims the lives of more than 1.8 million children every year.
The United Nations’ World Habitat Day, observed the first Monday of each October, is a time to reflect on the state of our cities and towns and the basic human right to adequate shelter. At Habitat, we use this occasion to raise awareness, to encourage people to change the systems that perpetuate poverty, and to help make affordable housing a reality for all.
