Habitat For Humanity remembers President Carter at home celebration in Billings
Jan 09, 2025
Former President Jimmy Carter is being remembered for his service in office and his extraordinary service to the world after leaving office.That includes his work with Habitat For Humanity, which he began working with in 1984.The Mid-Yellowstone Valley Habitat For Humanity in Billings celebrated Thursday with a wall raising on its 96th home, with Carter's legacy on volunteers' minds.Some say they've been inspired by Carter, the 39th president, to serve people and to build homes.We pray that you would bless this house, Pastor Dan Keinath prayed before the wall raising. And then provide for their needs that they may continue to grow closer as a family and closer to you.Volunteers and donors raised the walls for the home at the Habitat subdivision near Hawthorne Lane and Wicks Lane, a big step in building a Habitat For Humanity home.It's a place that you're able to go home to every night to be able to tuck your children in to know that there's somewhere to go that's warm, said Melissa Knuckles, who will live in the home with her three children.They have been putting in the sweat equity working on other habitat homes.Knuckles 17-year-old daughter Kimberly thinks about what this means for her two sisters, ages 3 and 1.I grew up living in apartments, Kimberly said. They get to live in a house and I'm so happy for them. They get to have a place to run in about the backyard and have a dog and paint the room crazy colors that they want. And that's pretty awesome to me.That's why Carter helped build so many houses with Habitat For Humanity, four years after he left office.President Carter was just a wonderful light and a beacon of hope for families struggling in this country, particularly with housing issues, said Jim Woolyhand, Mid-Yellowstone Valley Habitat For Humanity executive director.Woolyhand says his organization drew inspiration from Carter.Two people from Billings, including Jesse Gonzalez, went down to Haiti in 2011 after the earthquake to work alongside Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter.I believe he studied the Bible and he conducted himself in the way that the Lord wanted good people like him to inspire people to help, said Gonzalez."He bridged that political gap because everyone agrees Jimmy Carter was a wonderful humanitarian," Woolyhand said. "And I have no doubt that the legacy that Jimmy Carter has with Habitat will continue for decades."And they celebrated a Habitat home in Billings on the same day as a funeral for Carter.A day to remember because people like President Carter have made this program what it is today, said Knuckles.