Former President Jimmy Carter turned 100 on Tuesday. His birthday was celebrated from his eastern hometown of Plains, Ga. to the west coast Monterey Bay office of Habitat for Humanity, one of his philanthropic passions.
National news organizations descended on the rural town of Plains (pop. 577) to interview locals, hear a few speeches and witness a U.S. citizen naturalization ceremony. Carter watched a military jet flyover from his home, where he has been in hospice care for the past 19 months. He has not attended a public event since the Nov. 2023 memorial service for Rosalynn, his wife of 77 years. Carter is the oldest living U.S. president, surpassing George W. Bush, who died at age 94.
As president, his diplomatic efforts in the Middle east included an historic Arab Israeli peace agreement between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1979. After his presidency, Carter founded The Carter Center in 1982, a non-governmental organization that supports human rights, voter rights and healthcare for people around the world. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
But in California and around the country, Carter championed the right to fair housing with his public support for Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit that recruits volunteers to build homes for people who cannot afford market-rate housing.
“The families that we’ve helped are hardworking, low-income families,” said Lyndsey Marks with Habitat for Humanity of Monterey Bay.
Throughout his post-presidency, Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn headlined week-long home building projects, working into their 90s and recruiting volunteers to build thousands of homes in 14 countries.
Her team and volunteers gathered Tuesday to cut a birthday cake with Carter’s image on it. They hosted the celebration at a housing location in the city of Santa Cruz as well as two of the nonprofit’s building material resale stores, called ReStore, in Seaside and Watsonville.
Marks said a wide range of people have benefitted from housing provided through Habitat for Humanity.
“There are single parents, veterans, teachers, people who have their own small businesses, government employees, people who work in hospitality,” Marks said. “They are people who never thought they could own a home. When they get their Habitat home, one of our homeowners once said, it’s like finally standing on solid ground.”
Habitat homeowners qualify for the program by earning less than 80% of the area median income and by investing 500 hours of sweat equity on the construction site. Since 1989, Habitat has helped 70 families become homeowners in the Monterey Bay region, Marks said.
“We pride ourselves on having 70% of the labor that goes into building the home as volunteer labor,” said Marks.
Habitat for Humanity was founded in 1976 by the couple Millard and Linda Fuller. Headquartered in Atlanta, the nonprofit now operates around the world.
Throughout his post-presidency, Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn headlined week-long home building projects, working into their 90s and recruiting volunteers to build thousands of homes in 14 countries.
