President Jimmy Carter: A Century of Kindness and Humanitarian Leadership

Life for Relief and Development (LIFE) Reflects on the Humanitarian Work of the late Former President Jimmy Carter

SOUTHFIELD, MI, UNITED STATES, January 9, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, was born on October 1st, 1924, and passed away at 100 years old, making him the longest-lived president in U.S. history. Following his presidency, former president Carter founded the Carter Center as a University Distinguished Professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and with his wife, Rosalynn Carter. The Center, a nonprofit organization based in Atlanta dedicated to advancing and protecting human rights, improving health care, and strengthening democracy, left several notable accomplishments, including:

• Establishing a health care delivery system in thousands of communities in Africa, training health care personnel and volunteers to provide health education and distribute drugs, and implementing new public health approaches to disease control and prevention across Africa and Latin America

• Improving mental health care and diminishing the stigma against people with mental illnesses

• Leading a coalition that has reduced the incidence of Guinea worm disease by 99.99 percent, making it likely to be the first human disease since smallpox to be eradicated

• Furthering avenues to peace in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Liberia, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, the Korean Peninsula, Haiti, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Middle East

• Helping to establish a village-based health care delivery system in thousands of communities in Africa that now have trained health care personnel and volunteers to distribute drugs and provide health education

• Strengthening international standards for human rights and the voices of individuals defending those rights in their communities worldwide

Aside from his accomplishments at the Carter Center, the former president also volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, a global nonprofit housing organization that originated in Americus in southern Georgia, starting in 1984 with his wife, Rosalynn. The two of them soon became the face of the organization.

Georgia’s first Carter Work Project took place in Atlanta in June 1988, with over 1,000 volunteers building 20 homes in one week in Atlanta’s Edgewood neighborhood. In 1990, the Carters hosted the first international Carter Project in Tijuana, Mexico. Since then, they have managed to build homes with Habitat in Canada, South Korea, Hungary, South Africa, India, China, Haiti, and other countries. Until 2020, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter volunteered one week each year for Habitat for Humanity. This nonprofit organization helps underprivileged people in the United States and in other countries restore and build homes for themselves.

For nearly 40 years, President and Mrs. Carter traveled the world as Habitat volunteers, assisting in building homes and improving the lives of those they helped. The couple restored and fixed 4,390 homes together with more than 104,000 volunteers in 14 countries. Observing poverty in some of the wealthiest areas of the USA, Carter directly participated in building homes for the underprivileged, performing labor-intensive work himself. This program inspired a global movement to build affordable housing for those in need.

In 2002, Jimmy Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his “decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” He is one of only four U.S. Presidents to receive this honor.

"President Jimmy Carter's legacy reminds us that authentic leadership lies not in power but in compassion. His life was a testament to the boundless impact of humanitarianism on a global scale,” said Dr. Hany Saqr, CEO of LIFE.

The world mourns the death of former president Jimmy Carter, as he leaves his mark on the world beyond his presidential legacy.

“The measure of a society is found in how they treat their weakest and most helpless citizens.”
– Jimmy Carter

“We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace. We can make these changes – and we must.”
– Jimmy Carter

“What are things that you can’t see that are important? I would say justice, truth, humility, service, compassion, love. You can’t see any of those, but they’re the guiding lights of life.”
– Jimmy Carter

Based in Southfield, Michigan, Life for Relief and Development (LIFE) is a global humanitarian organization. It has earned a four-star rating and a 99% score from Charity Navigator. LIFE is committed to delivering humanitarian assistance to individuals, irrespective of their race, gender, religion, or cultural heritage. As a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit entity, LIFE holds Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

Hala Sanyurah
Life for Relief and Development
[email protected]
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