North Texans reflect on former President Jimmy Carter's work with Habitat for Humanity
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) — As we reflect on the life and service of former President Jimmy Carter, CBS 11 took a look at the impacts he made in North Texas.
On Saturday, the Carter Center announced that after a series of hospital stays the former president is now receiving hospice care at his home, where he is surrounded by family.
"He's busy. He doesn't sit around and chit chat, he goes to work," said Gage Yager, CEO of Trinity Habitat for Humanity.
In 2014, at 90-years-old, former President Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter did just that. They chose the DFW Metroplex as the site for their 2014 Habitat for Humanity International Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project.
Wearing a red bandana and tool belt, he got to work. Hammering alongside hundreds of Habitat for Humanity volunteers in both Fort Worth and Dallas, the now-98-year-old helped build 30 homes in the East Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas and 20 homes in Fort Worth's Central Meadowbrook neighborhood.
"When the families start weeping with joy, almost invariably we cry as well," Carter said while volunteering in Fort Worth back in 2014.
Yager remembers what it was like to hear the former president speak.
"The electricity in the room, I mean it was goosebumps," said Yager.
But Carter's work with Habitat for Humanity spoke even louder than words.
"I am, and all of the Habitat affiliates across the country, were standing on the shoulders of a giant," Yager said.
Not everyone can say the president helped build their house—but the Wills couple can.
"They had the houses on this street marked one through 10, and ours was number one and they called it the 'Carter House' because President Carter himself worked on it," said Jacqueline Wills.
She says she's grateful to Habitat for Humanity and the Carters for their work.
"It has been such a blessing, everybody knows there's a need for affordable housing," said Wills. "It just gave us, as working people, a chance for home ownership."
She remembers what it was like to help build her home alongside the president and first lady.
"It was a humbling experience, but it was such an honor to have him and his wife here working with us," Wills said. "I will never forget that and I'll be totally indebted to him for the rest of my life."