A benefit concert and the construction of 30 new homes are among the many events marking President Jimmy Carter 's 100th birthday on Oct. 1. Considering the former president's long legacy as a philanthropist, it's no surprise that he wants any gift-giving to go to other people.
The star-studded concert at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre earlier in September has raised $1.2 million so far to support the international programs of The Carter Center, which Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter founded in 1982 with the mission to “ wage peace, fight disease, and build hope.” The concert airs on Georgia Public Broadcasting on Oct. 1.
Meanwhile, thousands of Habitat for Humanity volunteers gathered Monday to build 30 homes in St. Paul, Minnesota, over five days, led by country music giants Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, who worked alongside the Carters for years, beginning with projects in Hurricane Katrina's disaster area.
The Carters' relationship with Habitat for Humanity stretches back 40 years, to when the couple went to New York City on a build in 1984.
“The image of a president of the United States sleeping in a church basement and physically helping rehab a tenement building captured the world,” said Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International. The Carters went on to build homes annually for 35 years. Carter repeatedly said that working with the organization was a way he put his Christian faith into action, Reckford recalled.
Cleora Taylor, a medical assistant, met the Carters in August 2018 when they helped build 41 new homes in South Bend and Mishawaka, Indiana.
Years later, Taylor recalled how the former president greeted her by name and knew about her children, including her daughter, who was 11 at the time and has autism.
“It means so much to me that he knew me,” said Taylor, speaking from her living room in the home The Carters helped her build, on a street named Carter Court. “He’s just such a good, welcoming, humble guy. I’m just glad to be a part of a legacy that he’s leaving behind.”
Presidential historian Cassandra Newby-Alexander, professor of Virginia Black history and culture at Norfolk State University, said the strength of Carter’s legacy is in his morality. Unlike many who claim to care about the disadvantaged, Carter has shown that they — and not power or money — are his main concern, Newby-Alexander said.
“I think he has probably done more personally in his post-presidency than anyone else because he’s not out there looking for attention,” she said. “He’s looking to change things. He’s not out there trying to make money for himself. He’s out there trying to live the life of a Christian — a true Christian, one who cares about the poor and the homeless and the children.”
While leadership in philanthropy is often gauged by the size of donations or the heft of assets under management, Carter’s giving came in the form of his seemingly ceaseless personal effort. From building homes to monitoring elections and pursuing the elimination of a painful but neglected disease, Carter used his stature and presence to rally resources and attention to his causes.
“In so many ways, he set the standard for how presidents should be in their post-presidency, as someone who is going to continue to do good, someone who’s going to continue to positively impact society,” Newby-Alexander said.
Carter’s legacy of giving back also includes working to eradicate Guinea worm, a commitment The Carter Center has made since 1986. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had identified the disease as a candidate for eradication after smallpox. Carter took up the mantle, vowing to outlive the last such parasite.
“To the demise of the worm” is the catchphrase, according to Dr. Jordan Tappero, deputy director for neglected tropical diseases at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has given $263 million to The Carter Center since 2000, mostly to support its work on Guinea worm.
The number of cases has fallen from 3.5 million when the center started to only 13 known cases in humans in 2022, and now focuses on closing the “last mile” of infections in several African countries. Even after Carter entered hospice in February 2023, Tappero said, Carter was still contacting his team.
“He still wants updates and wants to know what’s going on because his mind will never stop until the last heartbeat,” Tappero said, speaking in March 2023.
Carter engaged directly with health ministries and heads of state to muster their commitment to public health interventions, said Steven M. Hilton of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. Since 1991, the foundation said it has committed nearly $50 million to The Carter Center for eradicating Guinea worm and to support its work treating and controlling trachoma, a disease that can cause irreversible blindness.
Hilton considers Carter to be “a remarkable man with a deeply compassionate heart.”
“I feel fortunate to have witnessed firsthand the strength of his character, including his dedication to seeing enormous humanitarian challenges through to the end,” Hilton said in a statement.
Tappero draws inspiration from the Carters’ humility, energy and dedication. “If we all had one-fifth of his energy, commitment and passion,” he said, “the world would be a much better place.”
Taylor, who lives near South Bend, Indiana, said she saw that commitment firsthand as Carter, 93 at the time, helped her put up a kitchen wall in her four-bedroom home.
“It was just so amazing that he still was out here, outside at that age, working with us,” she said. “It made us want to work harder.”
She still gets emotional thinking about that week, an incredible opportunity for her and her four kids.
“Not only did I get to meet Jimmy Carter and his wife and his children and hundreds of volunteers, other celebrities, I get to own a piece of the world. I get to own a piece of land,” she said.
“I never thought that I would be able to do something like that, being a single mother. And for them to have to put so much into it, the volunteers and for Jimmy Carter to actually be here? It was amazing for people to care like he cares.”
Associated Press Writer Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this story.
Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter answer questions during a news conference at a Habitat for Humanity project Monday, Oct. 7, 2019, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter helps cut wood for home construction at a Habitat for Humanity construction site in the Globeville neighborhood of Denver, Wednesday Oct. 9, 2013. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)
FILE- In this Aug. 27, 2018 file photo, former President Jimmy Carter works with other volunteers on site during the first day of the weeklong Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project, their 35th work project with Habitat for Humanity, in Mishawaka, Ind. Carter turns 95 on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2019. (Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune via AP, File)
VALDOSTA, Ga. (AP) — Donald Trump repeatedly spread falsehoods Monday about the federal response to Hurricane Helene despite claiming not to be politicizing the disaster as he toured hard-hit areas in south Georgia.
The former president and Republican nominee claimed upon landing in Valdosta that President Joe Biden was “sleeping” and not responding to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who he said was “calling the president and hasn’t been able to get him.” He repeated the claim at an event with reporters after being told Kemp said he had spoken to Biden.
“He’s lying, and the governor told him he was lying,” Biden said Monday.
The White House previously announced that Biden spoke by phone Sunday night with Kemp and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, as well as Scott Matheson, mayor of Valdosta, Georgia, and Florida Emergency Management Director John Louk. Kemp confirmed Monday morning that he spoke to Biden the night before.
“The president just called me yesterday afternoon and I missed him and called him right back and he just said ‘Hey, what do you need?’ And I told him, you know, we’ve got what we need, we’ll work through the federal process,” Kemp said. “He offered if there are other things we need just to call him directly, which I appreciate that."
In addition to being humanitarian crises, natural disasters can create political tests for elected officials, particularly in the closing weeks of a presidential campaign in which among the hardest-hit states were North Carolina and Georgia, two battlegrounds. Trump over the last several days has used the damage wrought by Helene to attack Harris, the Democratic nominee, and suggest she and Biden are playing politics with the storm — something he was accused of doing when president.
While the White House highlighted Biden's call to Kemp and others, the president faced questions about his decision to spend the weekend at his beach house in Delaware, rather than the White House, to monitor the storm.
“I was commanding it,” Biden told reporters after delivering remarks at the White House on the federal government’s response. “I was on the phone for at least two hours yesterday and the day before as well. I commanded it. It’s called a telephone.”
Biden received frequent updates on the storm, the White House said, as did Harris aboard Air Force Two as she made a West Coast campaign swing. The vice president cut short her campaign trip Monday to return to Washington for a briefing from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Trump, writing on his social media platform Monday, also claimed without evidence that the federal government and North Carolina’s Democratic governor were “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas.” Asheville, which was devastated by the storm, is solidly Democratic, as is much of Buncombe County, which surrounds it.
The death toll from Helene has surpassed 100 people, with some of the worst damage caused by inland flooding in North Carolina.
Biden said he will travel to North Carolina on Wednesday to get a first-hand look at the devastation, but will limit his footprint so as not to distract from the ongoing recovery efforts.
During remarks Monday at FEMA headquarters, Harris said she has received regular briefings on the disaster response, including from FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, and has spoken with Kemp and Cooper in the last 24 hours.
“I have shared with them that we will do everything in our power to help communities respond and recover,” she said. “And I’ve shared with them that I plan to be on the ground as soon as possible without disrupting any emergency response operations.”
When asked if her visit was politicizing the storm, she frowned and shook her head but did not reply.
The Trump campaign partnered with the Christian humanitarian aid organization Samaritan’s Purse to bring trucks of fuel, food, water and other critical supplies to Georgia, said Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary.
Leavitt did not immediately respond to questions about how much had been donated and from which entity.
Trump also launched a GoFundMe campaign with a $1 million goal for supporters to send financial aid to people impacted by the storm.
“Our hearts are with you and we are going to be with you as long as you need it,” Trump said, flanked by a group of elected officials and Republican supporters.
“We’re not talking about politics now,” Trump added.
Trump said he wanted to stop in North Carolina but was holding off because access and communication is limited in hard-hit communities.
When asked by The Associated Press on Monday if he was concerned that his visit to Georgia was taking away law enforcement resources that could be used for disaster response, Trump said, “No.” He said his campaign instead “brought many wagons of resources.”
Katie Watson, who owns with her husband the home design store Trump visited, said she was told the former president picked that location because he saw shots of the business destroyed with the rubble and said, “Find that place and find those people.”
“He didn’t come here for me. He came here to recognize that this town has been destroyed. It’s a big setback,” she said.
“He recognizes that we are hurting and he wants us to know that,” she added. “It was a lifetime opportunity to meet the president. This is not exactly the way I wanted to do it.”
Trump campaign officials have long pointed to his visit to East Palestine, Ohio, the site of a toxic trail derailment, as a turning point in the early days of the presidential race when he was struggling to establish his footing as a candidate. They believed his warm welcome by residents frustrated by the federal government’s response helped remind voters why they had been drawn to him years earlier.
During Trump’s term as president, he visited numerous disaster zones, including the aftermaths of hurricanes, tornadoes and shootings. But the trips sometimes elicited controversy such as when he tossed paper towels to cheering residents in Puerto Rico in 2017 in the wake of Hurricane Maria.
It also took until weeks before the presidential election in 2020 for Trump’s administration to release $13 billion in assistance for the territory. A federal government watchdog found that officials hampered an investigation into delays in aid delivery.
In another 2019 incident, Trump administration officials admonished some meteorologists for tweeting that Alabama was not threatened by Hurricane Dorian, contradicting the then-president. Trump would famously display a map altered with a black Sharpie pen to indicate Alabama could be in the path of the storm.
Fernando reported from Chicago, and Amy reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York, Chris Megerian and Aamer Madhani in Washington, and Will Weissert in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris attends a briefing at FEMA headquarters, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Washington, on recovery and assistance efforts after Hurricane Helene. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Joe Biden speaks about his administration's efforts to aid in recovery from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Joe Biden, right, and White House Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall, left, speak with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, on screen at center right, and Administrator of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency Deanne Criswell, onscreen at center left, about the Biden administration's efforts to aid in recovery from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris attends a briefing at FEMA headquarters, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Washington, on recovery and assistance efforts after Hurricane Helene. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives at Valdosta Regional Airport to visit areas impacted by Hurricane Helene, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Valdosta, Ga. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks outside the Chez What furniture store as he visits Valdosta, Ga., a town impacted by Hurricane Helene, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump visits Valdosta, Ga., a town impacted by Hurricane Helene, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks outside the Chez What furniture store as he visits Valdosta, Ga., a town impacted by Hurricane Helene, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks as he visits downtown Valdosta, Ga., a town that was impacted by Hurricane Helene, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
People wait to gather water at Mountain Valley Water in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in West Asheville, N.C., Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
President Joe Biden speaks to reporters as he departs the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington after speaking about the federal response efforts for Hurricane Helene, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
A home completely destroyed by fire due to Hurricane Helene is pictured on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Madeira Beach, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump dances at a campaign rally at Bayfront Convention Center in Erie, Pa., Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Droke)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks about Hurricane Helene at a rally on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
