When President Carter passed away, Habitat for Humanity lost one of our leading voices and one of our most tireless volunteers.

During my first Carter Work Project, a homeowner shared a sentiment that sums up as well as anything why we do what we do. Outside Mumbai, India, during a joyful house dedication, a man named Aziz draped his arm across the shoulders of one of his new neighbors and said, “We come from different faiths and castes, but now we are brothers.”

It is a memory I carry, and I have met so many Habitat volunteers and supporters who certainly seem to have similar touchstones.

In volunteering with and supporting Habitat for more than 35 years — and through their work with The Carter Center — President and Mrs. Carter brought people together on so many levels.

They were true friends to this ministry and staunch advocates for people everywhere who suffer from poor health and housing, from political oppression, and from the enormous pressures that poverty imposes. They also were the deepest inspiration for countless others who have engaged in our mission, picking up everything from hammers to telephones in the name of affordable housing.

One of President Carter’s greatest gifts to Habitat was his servant commitment. His international profile brought enormous attention to both the need for and the value of the work that Habitat does. But Carter didn’t simply choose to stand in the spotlight that followed him.

And yet, the seeds he sowed while he was alive — seeds of awareness, of dedication and compassion — have only just begun to bear fruit. The leadership he invested in Habitat for so many years does not end here. It will simply continue to flourish, not only in the changed lives of the families with whom we partner, but in the changed hearts of all of us who build.

In 1991, President Carter called Habitat for Humanity “a singular, divine concept that has opened a vision to me.”

That vision — a world of housebuilding people helping each other and themselves — took him to build sites across the United States and around the world.

For more than three decades, President and Mrs. Carter worked alongside those who had also glimpsed the possibility of a world where everyone has a decent place to live.