MARSHALL COUNTY, Ky. — Across the country, local nonprofits are taking time to recognize President Jimmy Carter’s philanthropic service. For more than 30 years, he and his wife, Rosalynn, led The Carter Work Project for Habitat for Humanity.
Together, they worked with more than 108,000 volunteers to build, renovate, or repair more than 4,400 homes in 14 countries.
On Monday, reporters talked to Tom Hiter, a board member for Habitat for Humanity Marshall County. He explained how he met President Carter in the 1960s and early ’70s; and how overall, he hopes the younger generations learn the power of community, hard work, and helping out through Carter’s legacy.
Tom Hiter didn’t know President Jimmy Carter personally, but as a 40-year Habitat for Humanity volunteer, he recognized a trait they shared: a love for helping others.
“I don’t know that from his life, but from his work. He advocated, as he did when he was president, that the way to get a job done was pick up a tool and go to work. And that’s what he did in Habitat,” Hiter said.
Hiter met Carter when he was stationed at Fort Benning when Carter was running for governor of Georgia in the 1960s.
“Jimmy Carter came up with the idea of walking around Georgia. And he did. He wore a plaid shirt and khaki pants, and it looked like Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer, which he was,” he said.
Carter inspired him then, and later as a Habitat for Humanity volunteer. He even built his own house.
“Habitat teaches you how to build. My wife and I built it,” he said.
Through his work with Habitat and his presidency, Hiter believes everyone can learn a valuable lesson about humanity.
“He picked up a hammer and went to work. And that’s just the way he was…He was not our greatest president, but he may have been the greatest man who ever held the job. He was all about people, and he had no preconceived notions, or at least he showed none about who could do what if you were willing to pick up a tool and go to work,” Hiter said.
Hiter said Marshall County’s Habitat for Humanity chapter also started building its next house. During COVID, the organization paused construction efforts, but has been back building for about a year.
Hiter also hopes the next generation looks at Carter’s life and learns how important it is to put down your phones, pick up a hammer, pen, or whatever your tool of choice is, and get involved.
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