Sussex Habitat hosts service honoring President Carter 

Sussex County Habitat for Humanity held a memorial service Jan. 9 at its ReStore on Route 9 near Lewes to honor the legacy of President Jimmy Carter, celebrating his transformative impact on the organization and affordable housing advocacy worldwide. 

The service brought together community leaders including Sen. Russ Huxtable, D-Lewes, Lt. Gov.-Elect Kyle Evans Gay, USDA Delaware-Maryland State Director Andrew Dinsmore and the Rev. Eddie Jusino of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Rehoboth Beach. Attendees heard moving tributes from Sussex County Habitat for Humanity CEO Kevin Gilmore, Director of Development and Advocacy Katie Millard, and longtime Habitat for Humanity volunteer Tony Etze, who had worked alongside Carter on build sites. 

"President Carter's humble dedication to serving others inspired millions to pick up hammers and help build homes alongside their neighbors," said Gilmore. 

As part of the memorial, guests signed the Carter Memorial Door, symbolizing the countless doors Carter opened through his service to humanity. The door will remain at the Sussex County Habitat ReStore on Route 9 near Lewes for several weeks, allowing community members to add their signatures and messages of remembrance. 

Carter and his wife Rosalynn began their involvement with Habitat for Humanity in 1984 and helped transform the organization into a global housing ministry. Their annual Carter Work Project drew thousands of volunteers and highlighted the critical need for affordable housing worldwide. 

After leaving the White House, the Carters sought out meaningful ways to continue their commitment to social justice and basic human rights. They first volunteered with Habitat for Humanity in Americus, Ga., near their hometown of Plains, in March 1984. Later that year, the Carters joined Habitat volunteers in New York City’s Lower East Side to renovate an abandoned building in partnership with families in need of affordable housing. That trip marked Habitat for Humanity’s first Jimmy Carter Work Project, later renamed the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project. Each year since then until 2019, the Carters volunteered with Habitat to build or improve houses alongside homeowners in communities across the United States and around the world. Carter also served as a member of the organization’s board of directors from 1984-87. 

“I think every human being has within himself or herself a desire to reach out to others and to share some of our blessings with those who are in need,” Carter said. “What’s opened up that avenue for me and my wife, and hundreds and thousands of others is Habitat for Humanity. It makes it easy for us to reach out and work side by side with the homeowner who’s never had a decent house, perhaps. I haven’t been on a Habitat project that I wasn’t thrilled and inspired, and wept.” 

Over the last three decades, the Carter Work Project has touched lives around the world by inspiring more than 108,000 volunteers across the U.S. and in 14 countries to build, renovate and repair 4,447 Habitat homes. Since its founding in 1976, Habitat has served more than 62 million people around the world. 

In 2016, Habitat named Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter as the inaugural Habitat Humanitarians for their extraordinary dedication to service in alignment with Habitat’s vision of a world where everyone has a decent place to live. 

Sussex County Habitat for Humanity is part of a global, nonprofit housing organization operated on Christian principles that seeks to put God’s love into action by building homes, communities and hope. Sussex Habitat is dedicated to eliminating substandard housing locally and worldwide through constructing, rehabilitating and preserving homes; advocating for fair and just housing policies; and providing training and access to resources to help families improve their shelter conditions. Habitat for Humanity was founded on the conviction that every man, woman and child should have a simple, durable place to live in dignity and safety, and that decent shelter in decent communities should be a matter of conscience and action for all. For more information or to donate, go to sussexcountyhabitat.org.