Already the longest-lived of the 45 men to serve as US president, Jimmy Carter turns 100 today.
Although he remains under home hospice care, his family will celebrate the milestone in the same south Georgia town where he was born in 1924. Carter’s birthday will be marked by the broadcasting of a benefit concert and the construction of 30 new social housing homes.
The star-studded gig at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre earlier in September raised money to support the international programs of The Carter Center, which Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter founded in 1982 with the mission to “ wage peace, fight disease, and build hope.”
Meanwhile, thousands of Habitat for Humanity volunteers gathered on Monday to build 30 homes in St Paul, Minnesota, over five days, led by country music giants Garth Brooks, who worked alongside the Carters for years, beginning with projects in Hurricane Katrina's disaster area.
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The former president's relationship with Habitat for Humanity stretches back 40 years, to when the couple went to New York City on a build in 1984.
“The image of a president of the United States sleeping in a church basement and physically helping rehab a tenement building captured the world,” said Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International. The Carters went on to build homes annually for 35 years.
