Carter Work Project and country music stars building 27 homes in west Charlotte
Country music stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood are hosting the event this year.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - More than 1,000 volunteers are in Charlotte this week for the annual Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project.
The project is dedicated to helping Habitat for Humanity build homes for people.
Former President Jimmy Carter, who celebrated his 99th birthday over the weekend, will not attend this year. Instead, the event is being hosted by country music stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood.
This year’s Carter Work Project is special for several reasons. It’s the first year of the event since 2019, delayed because of the pandemic and the former president will not be in attendance for the first time.
Roughly 1,000 volunteers are building houses in west Charlotte.
“This means everything to me and the fact that Carter Work Project has taken the time to help me is absolutely awesome, it’s a dream come true,” said Keea Carroll, a future homeowner.
Lea Woodward, a volunteer from Ally, said, “we’re going to be here everyday, we’ve got 40 volunteers coming out, so I’m just shift one out here supporting the community, and I told her every nail I put in there was with love,”
Keea Carroll is one of the future homeowners that will call The Meadows at Plato Price home.
The former site of an all-Black school called Plato Price School.
“Typically, rent is supposed to be 30% of the income and currently where I live, it’s about half of my income that I make a month, so it’ll be much more affordable for me and my family,” said Carroll.
Volunteers will work on 27 homes in the neighborhood, with eight finished by the end of the week.
Some of the volunteers include the new hosts of the project Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood.
“You get to work with the homeowner which is the greatest gift ever and you get to see results while you get to love people you’ve never met before,” said Garth Brooks.
The famous country music couple said hosting this event is honoring the work of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.
Trisha Yearwood said, “there’s no way I can overestimate how important their work has been and will continue to be for this.”
Brook added, “we’re not taking the place of the Carter’s, we’re here to honor them, honor their legacy and we made a deal with Jonathan and all of Habitat that as long as it’s called the Carter Work Project, then me and Miss Yearwood would be honored to host it.”
Future homeowners are thankful for the extra help this week from the volunteers in partnership with the Carter Work Project.
Carroll said, “I’ve put in a number of hours here, but it looks like maybe it’ll be completed sometime next year, I’m thinking March, maybe.”
This marks the second time the Carter Work Project has come to the Queen City, the first time in 1989 when 14 homes were built in Optimist Park.
“President Carter believed as long as there’ one person on this planet without a roof over their head, Habitat’s job is not done…. I have to agree with that,” said Brooks.
The roughly 1,000 volunteers this week will help accelerate construction on the site by more than a year.
The entire 39 home project in The Meadows at Plato Price is scheduled to be complete in 2025.
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