According to the Associated Press, at 98 years old, Carter is the “longest-lived” president in American history. Last week, the Carter Center confirmed that Jimmy Carter had entered into hospice care following a series of multiple hospital stays.

The statement provided by the Carter Center explained that instead of receiving “additional medical intervention,” Carter had “decided to spend his remaining time” with his family and “receive hospice care” at his home in Plains, Georgia.

The Associated Press shared that the former president’s decision was met with the “full support” of both his family and his medical team. The family is asking for “privacy” but expressed gratitude for the “concern” demonstrated by Carter’s “many admirers.”

Some of the “many admirers” of the former president include the countless people that were influenced by Carter’s support and involvement with Habitat for Humanity. The organization’s website explains the powerful impact Carter and his wife Rosalynn had on Habitat for Humanity.

Former President Jimmy Carter takes a break under an umbrella in Miami, June 22, 1991, and speaks to reporters on the site of the Habitat for Humanities in the Liberty City section of Miami. Carter and some 400 volunteers hope to finish construction on 14 homes on Saturday. (AP Photo/Doug Jennings)

The Carters not only contributed to the work of Habitat for Humanity but also championed the mission of the organization and encouraged countless others to join the work of Habitat for Humanity.

“Habitat provides a simple but powerful avenue for people of different backgrounds to come together to achieve those most meaningful things in life,” Carter said. “A decent home, yes, but also a genuine bond with our fellow human beings. A bond that comes with the building up of walls and the breaking down of barriers.”

Bryan Muecke, executive director of the Chautauqua Area Habitat for Humanity, shared the rich history of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s involvement with the organization.

Muecke said Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter started their involvement with Habitat for Humanity in 1984. “Their experience and the impact that volunteering for Habitat had on them evolved into the Carters having their yearly work project,” he said. “They called it the Cater Work Project, now it’s the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project. In that time since 1984, they’ve worked with 104,000 volunteers in 14 countries building almost 4400 houses.”

Without what Muecke described as the “enthusiasm” and “tremendous impact” of the Carters on Habitat for Humanity, Muecke said Habitat for Humanity would not be the same organization it is today.

Brian Muecke

According to Muecke, the Carters were able to encourage many people to get involved with Habitat for Humanity. He said celebrities and people of “some notoriety,” as well as “common everyday people” joined the Habitat for Humanity movement as a result of the Carters.

Even with Jimmy Carter currently in hospice care, Muecke said his legacy lives on through the efforts of people like Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood who are “picking up the baton” on the Carter Work Projects.

“It’s just been a tremendous impact that’s really reached across the globe with the work that they’ve done,” he said.

Asked about the significance of the involvement of the Carters for so many years, Mueke emphasized the “spirit” that the two always brought to the organization.

Muecke said Carter’s life and legacy demonstrate that the former president “lived that out,” by serving people through his contributions to Habitat for Humanity and other organizations. Muecke explained that even in his upper 90s through the pandemic in 2020, Carter continued to work on projects with Habitat for Humanity.

“Watching some interviews and listening to them (Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter) speak at different Habitat dedications and in different Habitat events, they were moved by the work that was being done,” he said. “They were impacted by the work as much as anybody else that was there. Rosalynn even said at one point she had a hard time speaking at Habitat events because she gets choked up.”

Muecke told The Post-Journal that the “legacy” of the Carters is built into the “DNA” of Habitat for Humanity. He described the organization’s process of providing stability, confidence and security for community members through the construction or rehabilitation of housing as a “tremendous thing” that has a significant impact on the individuals that benefit from the work of Habitat for Humanity.

“It’s so meaningful to the families that are taking ownership of the home because for a lot of these families, they didn’t think that would ever be possible,” he said. “The quote that I shared speaks volumes to what Habitat for Humanity really lives up to and tries to live toward. We do as much as we can, wherever we can, for as long as we can.”

On a local level, Muecke said the Chautauqua Area Habitat for Humanity has served over 30 families for more than 30 years in Chautauqua County. He explained that Habitat for Humanity continues to walk alongside local families throughout the process of paying off their mortgage and even continues to help families after they have finished paying off their mortgage.

“We continue to walk with them if they need a roof replaced or if they need some other repair work done on the house,” he said. “We don’t abandon them and say, ‘Well, tough luck.’ We continue to walk with them and support them and make sure that housing remains viable for them as long as they own the home.”

The partnership between Habitat for Humanity, the families who partner with the organization and the volunteers that help support the work of Habitat for Humanity projects is something that Muecke believes is foundational to the organization. He believes Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter demonstrated that partnership better than anyone else.

For those interested in more information about Habitat for Humanity, Muecke said they can visit the local Habitat’s online website (chqhabitat.org).

“There’s a lot of information there on our local projects and our local programs and our contact information is on the website there as well,” he said.