After fall, former President Jimmy Carter's 'No. 1 priority' is building Habitat homes in Nashville

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Former President Jimmy Carter walked across the stage at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium on Sunday night, an Atlanta Braves ball cap on his head and a white bandage over his left eyebrow.

"First of all, I want to explain my black eye," the 95-year-old Carter began.

While rushing from church to lunch, Carter fell and hit his forehead "on a sharp edge" in his home in Plains, Georgia. He had to go to the hospital, where he received 14 stitches.

But he wasn't going to let a little bump keep him from getting on a plane to Music City for this week's Habitat for Humanity project.

"I had a No. 1 priority," Carter told the riveted Ryman crowd, "and that was to come to Nashville to build houses."

The Carters plan to work all week alongside hundreds of volunteers – including Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood – to construct 21 new affordable homes in Nashville.

Though the former president said he isn't sure how much energy he will be able to expend after the injury, he and former first lady Rosalynn Carter will contribute to each new home.

"All 21 houses will have something we built," he said.

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This year marks the 36th year of the Carter Work Project, a decadeslong humanitarian effort focused on constructing and rehabilitating affordable housing for those in need across the country and around the world.

The opening ceremony at the Ryman also featured remarks from Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, performances by the Fisk Jubilee Singers, the Nashville Symphony and music and witty banter from Brooks and Yearwood.

"I look forward to this week all year long," Rosalynn Carter said, addressing an audience filled with volunteers and future homeowners who will start work in the north Nashville affordable housing neighborhood of Park Preserve on Monday morning.

"I have great admiration for all of you," she said. "In fact, I love all of you. And I will be looking for you on-site."

An affordable housing crisis

This week's build marks the third time the Carter Work Project has come to Tennessee. It helped in Scott County in 1997 and in Memphis three years ago. Now, it comes to Nashville.

The costs of growth and change in Nashville are significant.

Between 2011 and 2017, rent in Nashville rose by 64%. During the same period, wages rose by only 14%. The disparity has displaced many residents from their neighborhoods.

If enough new affordable housing is not built by 2025, Nashville is projected to have a shortfall of 31,000 housing units for low-income residents.

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"Those are serious challenges for our community, but Nashville has always risen to the occasion," Danny Herron, president and chief executive officer for Habitat of Greater Nashville, said on Sunday night.

This week is another opportunity to have a pivotal moment for our city, he said. And it comes working alongside "two of the greatest humanitarians ever to live" in the Carters.

"We’re here tonight due to a path of generosity and service and selflessness," Lee said.

"A path that was forged by President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn."

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Brooks and Yearwood have volunteered with Habitat for Humanity for more than a decade, having first been drawn to the work while helping on a build in New Orleans a couple of years after Hurricane Katrina.

"Her nickname is Nail Gun Diva," Brooks joked about his wife.

"His nickname is Mr. Yearwood," she playfully shot back. "He prefers to be called that on the job site. So if you see him."

Brooks and Yearwood performed two songs for Sunday's ceremonies.

When they were through, Rosalynn Carter recognized the country couple not for their musical talents but for being "the best" Habitat volunteers.

"I've seen Trish work on the skeleton of a house on a rafter on her back hammering," Rosalynn Carter said.

"While Garth watches her," the former president chimed in.

Park Preserve is the Nashville Area Habitat for Humanity's fifth affordable housing neighborhood. Construction began in 2010, and the first six homes were dedicated on Oct. 17 of that year.

With help from the Carter Work Project build, Park Preserve will continue to expand. The neighborhood is expected to be complete with a total of 175 Habitat homes by the end of 2020.

Breaking the 'generational curses' of poverty

At the end of the week, Tara Morgan will be a new homeowner.

In speaking Sunday, Morgan spoke representing each of the families and individuals who will receive a home. The dwellings are not given for free. Each recipient works on and for their homes. They participate in the build and when it's complete, they buy the home.

They are responsible for the mortgage, closing costs, taxes and insurance.

Morgan grew up the daughter of a single mom with five children. Her mother worked as a teacher's aid. The family lost one home to foreclosure. When they moved to a homeless shelter near Christmas one year, Morgan asked her mom whether it was the North Pole because there was a Santa figure near the door.

"She said yes," Morgan recalled.

Morgan, now a mom, has a master's degree in human services but she struggles with rent for the duplex where she lives, which is a long drive to her work and her daughter's school.

The only apartments closer to the city that she could afford "were so unsafe I was afraid to get out of my car when I went to visit."

After the Carter Work Project build this week, she will have a home she owns.

"I will have a place to pass on to my children, a savings account, and the ability to bless others whenever God lays it on my heart," she said.

She is breaking the “generational curses” of poverty.

"We will forever remember this week," Morgan said, "standing on our front lawns, waving to friends across the street, with our paid-off homes."

Follow Jessica Bliss on Twitter: @jlbliss

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Jimmy Carter, after fall, still plans to work on Habitat homes