Vera Thomas stands on the front porch of her Habitat house, which represents the end of substandard housing in Sumter County, Ga.

JCWP 2000, Two Years Later
Sumter County, Georgia, U.S.A.

After a flurry of building activity during the 2000 Jimmy Carter Work Project in Sumter County, Ga., the promise of a stronger community continues to grow.

Two years ago, hundreds of volunteers joined the former president and his wife, Rosalynn, to build 35 houses in Sumter County, home of Habitat for Humanity International. Volunteers built 30 houses in Americus, Ga., and five in the Carters' hometown of Plains.

Since then, the red clay that colored the build sites has yielded to green lawns, with flowers lining sidewalks and children's bikes parked at angles in the grass.

A neighborhood playground has been built in the Easter Morning Community, site of the JCWP in Americus, and a community center provides an outlet for children to participate in constructive activities.

In 1998, the local Habitat affiliate, New Horizons Habitat for Humanity, began building the Easter Morning Community. (Since the JCWP, the affiliate has expanded its mission to help serve the housing needs in nearby counties.) Four years and 122 Habitat houses later, the community is thriving.

	Sarah McGee maintains the appearance of her Habitat house with a fresh coat of paint.

"The Carter project provided much-needed housing for a lot of families," says John Linneman, community development director for the city of Americus. "It filled a void and resulted in a nice neighborhood."

Across the county in Plains, families are enjoying the positive effects of decent housing too. Eugene and Michele Hughley, for instance, see their Habitat house not only as a nurturing environment for their two children, but also as something permanent. "This is something we can pass on," says Michele. "It's nice for [the children] to have something they can look back on and call their own, something Mommy and Daddy have built that will last."

During the JCWP, Habitat celebrated two important milestones: designating the Hughleys' house as Habitat's 100,001st and marking the end of substandard housing in Sumter County with the construction of Vera Thomas' "Victory House" in Americus.

Thomas' home represents the culmination of the Sumter County Initiative, a coalition of the local affiliate, churches, businesses and government that eliminated substandard housing locally.

"From my standpoint, I think that the whole community feels better knowing its residents are no longer forced to live in substandard housing," Linneman says. "It's really a positive thing for everyone."

Homeowners in the neighborhoods have grown to know one another, and added stability translates into a greater peace of mind for many, including Thomas. Well settled today on a corner lot in the Easter Morning Community, Thomas spends her free time cultivating her garden and enjoying the security that comes with decent shelter.

From Thomas' front porch, one can hear banter in the playground across the street, where children build sand castles and enjoy a youth no longer threatened by inadequate living conditions.

For the Habitat homeowners in Sumter County--like those in distant communities around the globe--decent housing provides the structural foundation in which homes are made, families strengthened and neighborhoods improved.

--Shawn Reeves

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