SAN ANTONIO — Tributes continue to pour in for former President Jimmy Carter who is now in end-of-life care.
He spent Presidents Day resting at home with his wife Rosalyn and family by his side.
Tony Lowden is the former pastor of the church where Carter taught Sunday school for decades. He called the former president a ‘servant with a servant heart’.
Along with Carter’s dedication to public service, the former president built a lasting legacy of community service, especially with the Habitat for Humanity program. Carter never visited a Habitat site in San Antonio but its first chapter was established here.
In fact, the first Habitat home was built here on the city’s west side. It belongs to the Torres family, and has since 1978.
“If it wasn’t for them [Habitat for Humanity] we wouldn’t have this house,” said Ernesto Torres.
Patti Radle and her husband helped build the home.
“It took us a year to build because we didn’t really know what we were doing,” said Radle.
But her drive to help others in the community was strong. To this day, she still gives back to her neighbors through the non-profit Inner City Development. It offers multiple services to help people and revitalize the neighborhood where Torres lives.
“We got involved in helping to create Habitat for Humanity because of one of our volunteers,” said Radle.
Her name was Faith Lytle. She had a friend named Millard Fuller who built simple homes in exchange for sweat equity in Africa. Faith wrote him a letter saying he needed to build homes like the ones he was constructing overseas in the west side neighborhood.
And they did.
Today, the organization they helped start has gone on to build more than 1,300 homes in San Antonio and its surrounding areas. Tons of more homes have been built nationwide.
Radle said former President Jimmy Carter and his wife were also part of the organization’s success. The couple began volunteering with the non-profit in 1984, and did so for decades. They even established the Carter Work Project.
Now in Carter's final days, his contributions to Habitat are being remembered and its creating awareness.
“I think it’s terrific that everyone is being reminded of that work and I hope people will be inspired to jump in and pick up a hammer,” said Radle.
Torres even thanked Carter for his home after they briefly met in 1996 for a special home dedication ceremony in Florida.
“I thank for him for this house,” said Torres.
We also reached out to Vice President of Habitat for Humanity San Antonio Stephanie Wiese. She also praised the Carters for the their support of the housing organization.
“They have put their love into action and they truly feel that helping families in need, helping their neighbors is something that they wanted to truly do. They loved the self-help opportunity with Habitat for Humanity, how we work with families who help themselves,” said Wiese.