President Jimmy Carter’s legacy lives on through every home built and every family who partners with Habitat. Habitat for Humanity Portland Region joins communities around the world in honoring the lives and lasting impact of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.
Two volunteers recently traveled from Oregon to Texas, joining the Carter Work Project in Austin. It was the first since President Carter’s passing on Dec. 29, 2024. The energy on site, they said, was palpable.
“It’s a spirit of optimism and hope,” says Christiana Smith-Shi, Habitat for Humanity International board chair.
“Yes, it’s a service ethic, but what you really feel when you’re there is the glass is half full.”
Christiana got involved with Habitat in 2005 and has served on the Board of Directors for Habitat’s international organization since 2019. She attended her first Carter Work Project in 2018 and got hooked.
For Christiana, these builds are more than construction projects. They’re chances for people from all over the world to build community and connect to the work ethic the Carters embodied.
The Carters led the tradition of Carter Work Projects for more than 30 years, working alongside over 108,100 volunteers to build, renovate, and repair more than 4,447 homes.
When Christiana attended her first Carter Work Project in South Bend, Indiana, the Carters were still working alongside volunteers. She recalls sitting next to Rosalynn at lunch and appreciating the hardworking spirit that she and her husband brought to the build.
“The intelligence, the commitment, the caring, and frankly the harder edge of the Carters really impressed me,” she says, “they’re not softies.”
These work projects bring people from all over the world together every year. According to Christiana, “you start to feel like a family. It’s like coming home for Thanksgiving.”
Nancy Lee, Habitat Portland Region board chair and longtime friend of Christiana, has also found inspiration in the annual builds. Nancy got involved with Habitat first through the volunteer group CREW in 2019 and has served on the board since 2022.
Nancy attended her first Carter Work Project in Charlotte, North Carolina in 2023 with Christiana. With two builds now under her belt, she already feels like stepping onto the construction site is a reunion with fellow volunteers. It’s easy to see why.
“Every day is a huge sense of accomplishment,” according to Nancy. This year, volunteers showed up to a site of cement slabs and left a neighborhood full of completely framed homes sporting windows and doors.
Optimism animates the builds: when volunteers aren’t busy working, they’re imagining future homeowners moving in, families filling the neighborhoods, kids riding bikes, and neighbors gathering on their porches.
For Nancy, coming together around a common goal holds deep meaning.
“At a time when there’s so much divisiveness in the world, showing up and working together and knowing everyone is there for the right reason, it’s really special.”
Nancy and Christiana agree that the Carters’ spirit animates the work projects, bringing everyone together not only to support a common goal, but to remember.
They say that volunteers spend lots of time remembering the Carters — telling stories, enjoying memories — “just like you do relatives and friends that have passed.”
“It feels like an honor, and an important obligation” to carry on the Carters’ legacy, says Christiana. And it’s one that she and Nancy take on gladly.
Interested in joining the movement to build a world where everyone has a decent place to live? Learn about our volunteer opportunities here!
Plus, if you want to join Nancy and Christiana on CREW, contact Tiffanie McNamee to get involved.
