Habitat grew one nail at a time
At the onset of my career, when my freckles outnumbered my laugh lines, and well before I understood politics and division and power, I found myself in a large auditorium, welcoming the 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter. I remember the standing ovation and the genuine feeling of joy that permeated the room as he enchanted my peers with his down-home, easy-going words.
It appeared he was one of us.
Years passed, my experiences broadened and in 2012, I accepted the position of president and CEO of Macomb County Habitat for Humanity. Almost immediately, President Carter’s presence resurfaced. In learning about the history of Habitat, I discovered that though Millard and Linda Fuller began the nonprofit, it was Jimmy and Roslyn Carter whose continual volunteerism brought national attention to the international mission.
It became clear Jimmy Carter, especially, was Habitat. Year after year, his work on build sites in poverty-entrenched cities such as Detroit brought hope to families who needed a hand-up, not a hand-out. Though he had held the highest position in our country, he, like scores of starry-eyed and admiring volunteers, knelt on cement floors to lay tile. With elbows touching, he spackled, sanded, primed and painted wall after wall. He shook everyone’s hand before he departed. Each person felt special because of that one gesture. Some, such as the former mayor of Eastpointe, Harvey Curley, consider that moment in time as one of the most pivotal in their lives. Why?
Because Carter seemed like one of us.
At the conclusion of every build, President Carter, like all volunteers, signed his name on a wooden two-by-four attached to each house. Often it was located under the basement stairs in an area that was necessary, but unpretentious (almost a mirror of the man himself). That tradition is carried on today in every home that Macomb County Habitat for Humanity builds or renovates.
In a few weeks, Macomb Habitat will celebrate its 160th home closing. The one-story, three-bedroom home located in Clinton Township will be the permanent
residence for Chris and Kewanna. After all the mortgage paperwork is signed, the family will join volunteers and donors at the house. With the family placed in the center of the home, a wooden twoby-four will be signed, and everyone will join hands around them. Each individual will state their role in the building effort. The very last people to speak will be the family, who will address their joy in overcoming their struggle to affordable home ownership. At the conclusion, a simple prayer of thanks will be given, as it always is, to a God who makes all things possible.
This time, though, we will also talk and pray for our friend, Jimmy Carter. We will not reflect upon his youth, his time as a peanut farmer or his presidency. Instead, we will remember a simple, downto-earth man who loved his God, his family, and others, a man, who at 98, still volunteered on build sites and touched hearts.
And then, because they always do, someone will say that Jimmy Carter was just like us.
But now, because my laugh-lines outnumber the freckles and time on the job has earned me the final word, I will make a gentle correction saying…
“He wasn’t one of us. He was the best of us.”
The following day we will start the next build following the president’s profound and heart warming example: changing lives one nail at a time.
Helen Hicks is the president and CEO of Macomb County Habitat for Humanity. She is a successful administrator whose accolades include being named to the Macomb County Hall of Fame and the Macomb Charitable Foundation award, among others.