LaGRANGE, Ga.Fresh from the Anniston building site, former President Jimmy Carter, his wife Rosalynn and Habitat for Humanity founder Millard Fuller joined the local construction after meeting all 22 homeowners and house crews.
Carter hugged Gerri Porter, who will live in a house with her three daughters, including one being treated for cancer.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Porter told the former president.
“Do you like your house?” Carter asked her.
“I love it,” she replied, her eyes filled with tears.
“You don’t have to keep it if you don’t want to,” Carter told Porter jokingly.
They hugged again, amid sniffles from onlookers.
Carter, the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is marking his 20th year as Habitat for Humanity’s most recognizable volunteer.
The Carter party left LaGrange early Wednesday for Valdosta, the third site of the 2003 JCWP.
Meanwhile, an army of volunteers in T-shirts and tool belts is pushing toward the week’s ambitious goal: building 19 houses at Hillside Place off Jackson Street and 10 apartment-style residences at Magnolia Place, near Twin Cedars Youth Services. Three houses already completed raise the JCWP total to 32.
Most of the crew had no clue that Paul Leonard, a retired construction executive from Charlotte, N.C., is chairman of the board of Habitat for Humanity International. His responsibilities encompass Habitat activities in more than 3,000 communities and 89 countries.
The board chairman is frank in his assessment of Carter’s contributions to Habitat.
“He’s been critical. His personal commitment and the recognition he has brought — you can’t put a price tag on it,” Leonard said, recalling working as a house leader on a JCWP in Houston, Texas, when temperatures soared to 110 degrees.
Near the end of the build, he arrived early at the house site, only to find that the former president had been there before dawn to inspect the progress and leave a note reminding Leonard to “protect the newly installed carpet for the homeowner.”
