OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — "I have one life and one chance to make it count for something... My faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference."
This quote from President Jimmy Carter has long helped guide the leaders and volunteers at Habitat for Humanity of Omaha.
Continue reading for the full story as seen on-air about how his influence very much lives on locally.
NORTH OMAHA // HABITAT FOR HUMANITY HEADQUARTERS
@ :38 AMANDA BREWER // CEO, HABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF OMAHA
@ 1:34 DON BROWERS // BEGAN VOLUNTEERING IN 2008
A husband and wife started Habitat for Humanity. Though, it wasn't Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. Millard and Linda Fuller - also of Georgia - did it in the 1970s. But in 1984, the Carters became so involved with the cause of 'partnership housing' that many Americans assicated them as the founders.
In an interview in 2018, President Carter said, "I never dreamed, at that point, that it might become an annual affair that has enriched our lives in many ways."
He was speaking about the Carter Work Project, which elevated Habitat for Humanity in our nation and around the world.
"The Carters have always seen the worth of every individual and I think that's their legacy," Amanda Brewer, CEO, Habitat for Humanity of Omaha, reflected.
A Nebraska native (and long before she lead Habitat Omaha), Brewer moved to Georgia to volunteer full-time. She describes it as a calling.
"I do believe everyone should have that chance for a safe home. And the second thing is, I believe in people coming together to make a difference."
The humanity piece - so incredibly important to the Carters, she says, but Brewer also witnessed their leadership in other ways.
"We were doing, I think, 40 houses down in Georgia, and Mr. - President - and Mrs. Carter were out volunteering and some people started to leave for the day... but the houses weren't to the point that they needed to be and he stopped the bus and said, 'Nope, everybody back to the job site. We've got to finish these houses,'" she smiled.
Volunteer Don Browers has stories, too.
"I always admired the Habitat model - that idea that this is really just a hand up, rather than a hand out kind of thing," he explained.
Browers served on the Carter Work Project in Haiti following a catastrophic earthquake west of the nation's capital.
"It's an incredible experience because we had 400 volunteers from the United States and Canada and we built a hundred houses in a week," he recalled.
Continuing, "We met so many wonderful people. You know, warm people from Haiti who had lost everything, but those who were getting those houses, believe me, they thought they'd won the lottery. It changed their lives dramatically."
Browers noticed how grateful the Carters were for each volunteer, as well as their humility, hard work and commitment to the mission.
"Home ownership changes the arc of people's lives is absolutely incredible. How it benefits the individuals. How it benefits the families. How it benefits our community. And I think it all starts at the very top of that, and at the very top of that pyramid are the Carters. They set that example," Browers said.
In that same 2018 interview, President Carter talked about how Habitat for Humanity shaped him.
"At the end of the week when the house was finished, and we delivered a Bible and keys to their new house, that we haven't all cried. In fact, I think that's the times in my life where I have wept more than any other for excitement and for gratification that I was privileged, along with my wife, to participate in such a great project."
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