A Jimmy Carter legacy: Building up habitat for humanity, one nail at a time

The home, constructed in 2019 by Habitat for Humanity International with volunteers including Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter, was the last “Carter house" ever built.

“I am who I am today because I have this home," said Morgan, 36 years old.

Four years after losing re-election in 1980, Carter agreed to get involved with Habitat, which was then an obscure Christian nonprofit focused on building affordable homes. That kicked off a collaboration that became one of his enduring legacies: helping transform the organization into a juggernaut that operates across the U.S. and the world and has helped millions of people improve their living conditions.

Over more than 35 years, the Carters worked alongside more than 104,000 volunteers in 14 countries to build, renovate and repair nearly 4,400 homes. They raised funds for Habitat, connected its leaders with officials around the globe and helped catapult its growth and expand its scope to advocacy and other work.

“He and Mrs. Carter put it on the map," said Jonathan Reckford, Habitat’s chief executive. “It was such an inflection point for Habitat."

Jimmy Carter died Sunday at 100 years old. Rosalynn Carter died at 96 in November 2023.

Habitat was founded in 1976, the same year Jimmy Carter defeated Republican President Gerald Ford. Five years later, after Carter had lost his re-election bid to Republican Ronald Reagan and left the White House, Habitat built 342 homes, according to the organization.

Once the Carters got involved in 1984, that number climbed steeply, reaching 10,000 built or rehabilitated homes by 1991.

In 2023, the organization built or rehabilitated more than 45,000 homes and performed smaller projects and repairs on hundreds of thousands more. Total revenue topped $350 million. Habitat now has affiliates in all 50 states and works in more than 70 countries.

The Carters’ initial exposure to Habitat was unpleasant, the couple recounted in their 1987 book “Everything to Gain." In their final weeks in the White House, the couple learned through a local news report that the director of the group—which was based in Americus, Ga., 10 miles away from their hometown of Plains—was complaining loudly that the couple hadn’t attended a dedication ceremony that Habitat had invited them to.

Back in Plains after Carter’s presidency ended, the couple regularly encountered visitors at their church who had come to volunteer for Habitat, the Carters wrote. They became intrigued by the group, and when they expressed interest in learning more, Habitat’s co-founder, Millard Fuller, pounced. The Carters invited him to their home, they wrote, and he showed up with two typewritten pages listing possible ways they could help—with a place to mark “yes" or “no" beside each item. The couple eventually said yes to most.

During a swing through New York City in 1984, the former president visited a Habitat work site in Manhattan’s Lower East Side where volunteers were renovating an old building, he wrote in the book. Observing the daunting task they faced, he said half-jokingly that he would have to return to lend his carpentry skills, which he began developing when he was young.

Soon after, Carter organized a group of volunteers in Georgia and returned by bus to the work site. He and Rosalynn labored alongside them by day and shared dormitories with them in a nearby church at night.

That launched what Habitat eventually named the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project—a weeklong effort that draws thousands of volunteers to a different city around the U.S. or abroad each year to build roughly 100 or more homes. The Carters donned hard hats to cut wood and hammer nails, and met with new homeowners who benefited from the effort.

The Carters’ presence helped raise the profile of local Habitat affiliates, Reckford said. A 2006 project in Lonavala, India, attracted Bollywood stars, American actor Brad Pitt and a famous cricket player. A 2002 build in Durban, South Africa, brought together presidents of other African countries.

“I’ve never been to a Habitat project yet where, when I came home afterwards, I didn’t feel that I got a lot more out of it than I put into it," Carter said in an interview with Reckford in 2019.

In his earlier years volunteering, the former president could be a strict taskmaster, said Holly Eaton, a Habitat volunteer who has worked on 24 Carter projects, starting in 1992. He expected volunteers to arrive punctually, she said, and told them not to ask for autographs because that would detract from the work.

Typically on the Tuesday night of the workweek, Carter would visit each home construction to see if the crews were on schedule, Eaton said. If they weren’t, he would marshal additional volunteers, leaving them no excuse not to get on track.

“He was very emphatic that he was not window-dressing," said Eaton, 65 years old. “He was there to get things done."

Thomas Trumble, who has worked on eight Carter projects starting in 2002, said that after tiring days on the job site, volunteers usually gather at night for dinner and some form of entertainment. Carter would many times take the stage one night and discuss other initiatives he was involved in, such as the Carter Center’s campaign to eradicate Guinea worm disease, Trumble said.

“He was a very mission-driven man," said Trumble, 78.

Carter participated in his final Habitat project in Nashville in 2019, when he was 95. He had fallen at home the day before, requiring 14 stitches, and showed up at the work site with a black eye and a bandage on his forehead. But he and Rosalynn Carter still assembled and painted wood pieces for the designated “Carter house" and others.

Boosted by the economic security and improved mental health of being a homeowner, Morgan said she has landed a succession of better jobs, most recently as director of supportive and family services at a YWCA. Her daughter, who had been reluctant to go outside their old place, has blossomed and regularly invites friends over for sleepovers.

“It was so cool to be working on my house and look over and see President Carter doing woodwork," Morgan said.

Write to Arian Campo-Flores at arian.campo-flores@dowjones.com