Who gave Jimmy Carter’s Habitat project a half million dollars?

Jimmy Carter’s Habitat for Humanity project in northern Indiana just got a boost — a half-million-dollar boost.

It will help Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, stalwart volunteers with Habitat for Humanity, in their upcoming work project, building an entire neighborhood on the Indiana-Michigan border.

Next summer, with the help of hundreds of volunteers, the Carters will construct 21 homes in the city of Mishawaka. The project will be overseen by the Habitat for Humanity chapter based in St. Joseph County, Ind., and will take place over a week’s time.

That Indiana chapter will also construct an additional 17 projects in South Bend over the course of that year.

The undertaking is part of a tradition in which the former president and his wife lead a major Habitat project each year, usually alternating between locations in the United States and in other countries.

Construction of the Mishawaka project received support Tuesday when Mike Lugli, Northern Indiana District president of KeyBank, presented the St. Joseph County chapter of Habitat with a check for $500,000. “This opportunity to help families earn the stability and foundation of home ownership couldn’t be passed up,” Lugli told Habitat.

The donation occurred at a ceremony attended by the mayors of South Bend and Mishawaka and officials from the University of Notre Dame.

Habitat for Humanity was founded in Americus, Ga., a short distance from the Carters’ home in Plains. The Carters began their work projects in 1984, helping Habitat volunteers construct housing for a week each summer — and, coincidentally, helping bring national attention and support to the organization.

In July 2017, the former president was hospitalized for dehydration after overdoing it at a Habitat project in Winnipeg, Canada. He was 92 at the time. Carter turned 93 on Oct. 1.

As of 2017, the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project has helped thousands of families move into safe, affordable shelter in 14 different countries. More than 100,000 volunteers from all over the world have signed up to build alongside the Carters.

CONTRIBUTED BY HABITAT FOR HUMANITY Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter talk at a house site at a Habitat for Humanity build in Memphis, Tenn., in August 2016. Every year, the former first couple leads a major Habitat project; next summer’s project will be in Indiana.