PITTSBURGH — After former President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn started volunteering with Habitat for Humanity in 1984, the nonprofit known for building affordable homes became a household name.
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President & CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Pittsburgh Dr. Howard Slaughter said that the 40-year partnership with the Carters has made a big difference for the families they’ve helped.
“Jimmy Carter was really one of the individuals who really put Habitat on the map,” Slaughter said. “Without his efforts, we would not be able, I would say, to reach as many people as we as we have over the years.
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Carter’s wide-reaching influence can be seen in Larimer where homes were recently built by the nonprofit he championed.
“When you say President Carter and Rosalynn Carter, people come to the table. They’re excited,” Slaughter said. “We will miss him, but his legacy will live on.”
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Allegheny County Democratic Committee Chair Sam Hens-Greco also admired Carter’s humanitarian efforts.
“He was very much this, you know, man of the people,” Hens-Greco said.
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Hens-Greco went to the President’s inauguration in Washington, D.C. in 1977 where he said he spoke about a return to a more humble presidential demeanor.
“I just like the sort of the human nature of him,” he said. “He had this sort of sort of style of saying he was going to de-emphasize the presidency, the imperial nature of the presidency, under Nixon.”
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After graduating from college, Hens-Greco worked on Carter’s re-election campaign. He ran the phone banks in Tennessee when he was 19 years old. It was an honor he said he feels privileged to have.
“The Carter Institute and the work he did with elections around the country just spoke to his integrity,” said Hens-Greco. “His dedication to public service, all of those, I think he was quite a remarkable, remarkable man when you stack all of that together.”
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