Good News

Just Months After Hip Surgery, 94-Year-Old Jimmy Carter Is Back To Building Homes For The Poor

September 18, 2019

For 35 years now-former president, Jimmy Carter, has been volunteering with Habitat for Humanity building houses in the Park Preserve neighborhood of Nashville, Tennessee. Carter is 94 years old which makes him the longest living President of the US. The Democrat and, prior Georgia state senator and governor, was the 39th President from 1977 to 1981. He is also a Nobel prize winner for his work with the Carter Center and his criticism of wars.

According to Carter, all the wars are the reason the US is falling behind China. He explained that the “Chinese haven’t wasted a penny on war which puts them ahead of our country. America has lost $3 trillion. Instead of investing the money in railroads, bridges, roads and education, we invested $3 trillion in wars.”

President and Mrs. Carter helped build a home with Habitat for Humanity in Memphis, Tennessee, alongside Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood. They will return in August 2016 to build and repair more homes during Habitat's 33rd Carter Work Project. (PRNewsFoto/Habitat for Humanity) — President and Mrs. Carter helped build a home with Habitat for Humanity in Memphis, Tennessee, alongside Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood. They will return in August 2016 to build and repair more homes during Habitat’s 33rd Carter Work Project. (PRNewsFoto / Habitat for Humanity)

Carter has spent all his time after retirement doing charity work with his wife. In 2015, he was diagnosed with cancer after doctors noticed four spots of cancer on his brain and he wasn’t given much time to live. That same year he had a separate operation to remove a “small mass” from his liver. Through it all, Carter didn’t give up and he quickly recovered.

Then, last year, he had to undergo hip surgery but that didn’t stop him from springing back into action and he’s already back, ready to build another house! The man is so incredible that just three months after breaking his hip he was back on his feet again. A spokeswoman for the Carter Center said that he and his wife, former first lady Rosalynn Carter, plan to build 21 new homes in Nashville. Bryan Thomas, a spokesman for Habitat for Humanity International, said President Carter always comes back.

VIOLET, LA - MAY 21: Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter works on the 1,000th home to be built by Habitat for Humanity on the Gulf Coast May 21, 2007 in Violet, Louisiana. Carter made waves May 19 when he said that the Bush administration "has been the worst in history", in an interview published in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) — VIOLET, LA – MAY 21: Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter works on the 1,000th home to be built by Habitat for Humanity on the Gulf Coast May 21, 2007 in Violet, Louisiana. Carter made waves May 19 when he said that the Bush administration “has been the worst in history”, in an interview published in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

He even bounced straight back into teaching his Sunday school classes at Maranatha Baptist Church less than a month after his procedure. The doctors had told him to rest but he didn’t need to rest anymore, and all the people were overjoyed to have him back.

Together, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter have participated in the construction of more than 4,300 homes in 14 countries since 1984, working alongside 1,000 other volunteers!