Building Dreams

Building Dreams

BY LISA NUTTING
Rice News Staff
June 25, 1998

Taking a short break from his construction job–and from the overwhelming Houston
heat–former President Jimmy Carter recalled one of several memories that stands
out among his 14 years of involvement with the Jimmy Carter Work Project (JCWP)
of Habitat for Humanity.

After building a home for a Philadelphia-area family several years ago, the
former president returned to the neighborhood a couple of years later and asked
the mother of the family if their lives had changed. The mother told Carter
yes, especially for her teenage boys.

When he asked for further explanation, Carter said, the homeowner told him,
"When I lived in the old house, we never knew where they were after school.
Whenever the phone rang we always thought it was the police calling."

After moving into their Habitat home, the woman’s sons soon began spending
more time at home and inviting friends over to watch television and play cards.
As the story turned out, the youths had been embarrassed by their former home
and didn’t want their friends to see it. With their new home, the mother took
great comfort in having her sons at home.

"Those kinds of things happen often, and it’s really a life-changing experience
for the homeowners," Carter explained.

Carter and his wife Rosalyn were in Houston June 14-20 for the 1998 Jimmy Carter
Work Project, an annual weeklong event that builds Habitat homes for low-income
families around the world. The JCWP was created 14 years ago when the Carters
and 42 volunteers went to New York City in September of 1984 to renovate a six-story,
19-unit building.

The JCWP has grown steadily ever since and this year drew 1,500 Habitat volunteers
from around the world and 4,500 Houstonians to build 100 homes. The 1998 Houston
project made history here–100 is the largest number of Habitat homes built
by the JCWP in the United States since the project began.

"Since we got involved, the Habitat work force has expanded tremendously,
and I’m very grateful for that," Carter said. "The Houston people
have been wonderful to turn out and help us; Rice University’s been good to
let us sleep in the dormitories."

The Carters along with about 430 volunteers from out of town were housed at
Sid Richardson, Lovett and Will Rice colleges on the Rice campus during the
week and were bused to and from their respective home-building sites each day.

"We really have to turn volunteers away, particularly those that have
worked with us in the past from other parts of the country," Carter said.
"We can do the whole work site in Houston just with volunteers from other
places, but we restrict the number of outsiders."

Though building many homes in just a week is no longer an unfathomable task
to Carter, as he’s seen it done so many times now, he said, "I think it’s
amazing for the homeowners. Most of the homeowners have never had promises kept.
I’m sure there are a lot of them [who] Sunday night, when we say, ‘You’re going
to have a house of your own completed by Friday,’ say ‘Yeah, another promise.’
But by now (the last day of the Houston project), they’re beginning to realize
it’s going to happen.

"So, that’s a gratifying thing–to just see the expressions on the faces
of the homeowners, who, for the first time, say, ‘This is my house forever,’"
Carter added.

Getting to know the homeowners is another reason the Carters return year after
year to build more homes.

"We tend to underestimate [the homeowners] if we don’t know them,"
Carter said. "We work side by side with them all week and see their dedication
and service. [That] really makes [volunteers] realize they’re just as intelligent
as I am, just as ambitious, just as hard-working, they have family values similar
to mine. And we didn’t realize these things about them just because they’re
poor and they haven’t had a good chance in life.

"Quite often we’ll go back a year or two years later, and we find the houses
in almost perfect shape," Carter said. "We never see them broken down
or with graffiti on the walls. And, quite often the families have changed from
part-time work to full-time work. They become part of society instead of dependent
on society. They pay their own taxes, own water bills, own light bills."
The building of Habitat homes often times will affect the entire neighborhood,
the former president added. If there are neighborhoods that need to be rehabilitated,
those with Habitat sites on them will often be completed first, since they’ve
already set the neighborhood renovation on the right track.

Of his accommodations on the Rice campus, Carter sincerely said, "This
is the best place out of all 15 work sites that we have ever had to stay, and
I think a lot of our people agree. The food has been good, they’ve taken wonderful
care of us, we’ve had good entertainment at night."

Just a few miles from the home the Carters worked on, a crowd applauded as
Sheila Fletcher pounded the last few nails into the street numbers attached
to the front of her new Habitat home during a special dedication ceremony. The
three-bedroom house, which was sponsored and built by volunteers from the Association
of Rice Alumni, is now home to Fletcher and her two teen-age daughters.

Unsuccessfully attempting to contain her tears, Fletcher could only say, "I
want to thank all of you. I hope to see you all again."

A group of about 30 volunteers, which included Rice alumni, current students,
family members, and volunteers from Rice’s neighboring church, Christ the King
Lutheran Church, helped Fletcher build the three-bedroom home for her family.

The Association of Rice Alumni first became involved in the JCWP at the urging
of its president Karen George, who, while surfing the Internet, learned that
the University of Notre Dame was sponsoring a house in the 1998 JCWP. George
decided that if Notre Dame could sponsor a home from out of state, Rice could
easily get involved locally. Fund raising was spearheaded by Steve Trauber ’84
and volunteer recruitment organized by Leticia Fernandez Trauber ’86 and Kevin
Murphy, coordinator of the Rice student Habitat chapter and a Sid Richardson
College senior.

Murphy, who through his Rice Habitat chapter involvement has seen several Habitat
homes built (though at a much slower pace), said, "Monday morning it was
just a block concrete slab. I can’t believe this."

For related information visit the following Web site:
Habitat for Humanity International: http://www.habitat.org/