Macon Area’s Habitat for Humanity invites the community to pay tribute to Jimmy Carter
The Macon Area Habitat for Humanity has joined Habitat organizations across the world in setting up a tribute to honor the late President Jimmy Carter.
The tribute, a memorial door, will be located at 690 Holt Ave until Jan. 10. The public is invited to sign the memorial with their names and personal messages.
“President Carter’s efforts opened doors to brighter futures for thousands of Habitat homeowners over nearly four decades,” Habitat for Humanity said in an email. “(The Carters) put their words into action and worked alongside homeowners and volunteers to build over 4,000 Habitat Homes, changing the lives of families for generations,” said Ivey Hall, executive director of Macon Area Habitat for Humanity.
Carter’s memorial door will join his wife, Rosalynn Carter’s, memorial door in the Carter Community Room inside the Macon Area’s Habitat office, which was designated in October in honor of Carter’s 100th birthday. Rosalynn Carter died in November 2023.
The room is open to any nonprofit organization that needs a place to gather and acts as a symbol of the Carters’ work to bring people together to improve communities, according to Hall.
The Carters were involved in the planning of their tribute, according to Hall.
“Habitat International actually worked with the Carters several years ago to determine how they would like their life of service to Habitat remembered, and the door was one way,” Hall said.
The only other thing the former president and first lady requested was to ask the community to think about how they could do their own acts of service in honor of the Carters’ lives of service, according to Hall.
“President Carter’s contributions to Habitat for Humanity are among the most vital to our organization,” said Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International. “He opened doors of opportunity for families worldwide, and all of us at Habitat have been honored and humbled to work alongside him. We were truly blessed to have his support, and our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Carter family.”
In addition to visiting the memorial, the public is invited to visit habitat.org to sign the official online memory book and to see and share Habitat’s global tribute to Carter.
Since its inception in 1986, Macon Area Habitat for Humanity has served almost 150 families in Macon-Bibb and Jones Counties through partnerships with churches, corporations, groups, individuals, nonprofits and local government, through the provision of safe, decent, and affordable home ownership.
This story was originally published January 2, 2025 at 3:10 PM.
