With the merger this month of two area Habit for Humanity non-profits, perhaps it’s time for them to celebrate the person who put the national homebuilding organization on the map: Jimmy Carter.
The Jimmy Carter Lake-McHenry Habitat for Humanity has a certain je ne sais quoi to it, and would be a fitting legacy for the late one-term president, who died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. Especially considering his and wife Rosalynn’s decades of work on behalf of the mainly volunteer group which helps people achieve affordable home ownership. A new organization needs a new name.
The state funeral for the former peanut farmer, Navy veteran, Georgia governor, Nobel Peace Prize winner and longest-living president will be at 10 a.m. on Thursday at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. President Joe Biden is expected to deliver the eulogy for the 39th president, whose remains will be flown back to his hometown of Plains, Georgia, where he will be buried next to his wife, who died in 2023.
Officials with both Habitat for Humanity organizations in Lake and McHenry counties announced the decision to combine their respective groups and resources in order to accomplish more together, according to Steve Sadin’s front-page News-Sun story. In 2024, seven Habitat homes for families on the poverty scale were built in Lake County; and six in McHenry County.
Since its beginning in Lake County in 1989, Habitat has built more than 200 homes in the county, centered in Waukegan and North Chicago. Many of those builds, which include “sweat equity” with future homeowners, were partnered with employees of local corporations, like those at Baxter International and AbbVie.
The Carters, who championed the beliefs behind Habitat for Humanity, that homes and families are the foundation of successful communities, first volunteered with the organization in 1984. Habitat was founded in Americus, Georgia, near their hometown of Plains, in 1976.
It was after Carter’s overwhelming defeat by Republican Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election that he came into his second act as a humanitarian. During his presidency from 1977 to 1981, he struggled with a number of issues, like high inflation and mortgage rates, and the Iran hostage crisis.
Following that defeat and his involvement with Habitat for Humanity, the Carters raised worldwide awareness for the not-for-profit. Habitat has branches in all 50 states, and more than 70 countries around the globe. It has helped nearly 60 million people achieve and maintain homeownership.
The former president and first lady ran the Carter Work Project in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity. More than 4,300 homes could be considered a “Carter House” because the Carters helped build that many homes with more than 100,000 volunteers in 14 countries over nearly 40 years, according to the organization.
At age 95, he was still wielding a hammer on a building site in Nashville, joined by country stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, along with hundreds of volunteers. The former president noted several times that while volunteering with Habitat for Humanity he got, “a lot more out of it as we put into it.”
While Carter did not aid in building any Habitat homes in Lake or McHenry counties, he did visit Lake County in 1974. He made a campaign stop in Buffalo Grove on behalf of Democrat candidate Betty Spence, who tried unsuccessfully to unseat incumbent Republican Congressman Philip Crane in the old 12th District.
Carter also stumped on behalf of 10th District Congressman Abner Mikva in 1978 after flying into the old Glenview Naval Air Station. Mikva, who later became a federal judge, went on to defeat Republican John Porter, who eventually captured the seat in 1980.
The now-merged area Habitats hope to grow the number of sites to effect change for those who need affordable housing and are willing to work with the volunteer agency. Maybe some of those volunteers will be nonagenarians, those 90 and older, hammering away like Jimmy Carter was known to do on build sites.
This is why naming the newly combined Habitats in his honor would nail down the late president’s legacy as a builder of hope and homes. Certainly, other Habitats around the world are probably considering the same change in their organizational names. Lake and McHenry should be the first to do so.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
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