Courtesy Photo In this photo taken by Habitat for Humanity Northeast Michigan Executive Director Ted Fines, the new Habitat home is seen at 15600 Caring St., Hillman. An open house and memorial service commemorating President Jimmy Carter will be held there on Thursday.

HILLMAN — Habitat for Humanity Northeast Michigan will host an open house on Thursday at its most recently completed new home at 15600 Caring St., Hillman, and hold a brief memorial service commemorating the life and service of President Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday is a National Day of Mourning and Funeral Service for President Carter.

The Carters worked on many Habitat home builds and advocated for affordable and decent housing for over 35 years. Since their first home build in 1984, they touched lives worldwide through the Carter Work Project, inspiring more than 108,000 volunteers to help build, renovate, and repair 4,447 homes in 14 countries. Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter were married for 77 years. Mrs. Carter passed on Nov. 19, 2023, and President Carter passed on Dec. 29, 2024. Jimmy Carter was the 39th President of the United States and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for advancing global peace, promoting social justice, and improving the lives of underserved communities. Since its founding in 1976, Habitat has served over 46 million people worldwide.

The memorial service in Hillman will begin at 11:30 a.m., led by Habitat for Humanity Northeast Michigan Board Chair Max Lindsay, Executive Director Ted Fines, and a special tribute by Sandy Pearson, current board member and Habitat for Humanity of Michigan president emeritus, who worked on several Habitat home-build projects with the Carters in the U.S. and internationally.

“President Jimmy Carter and Rosalyn Carter have been a tremendous force and inspiration for hundreds of volunteers like me here in Northeast Michigan,” Lindsay said. “Carrying Carter’s dedication to serving others forward, in 2025, our Habitat for Humanity affiliate is stepping up to the current housing shortage crisis with our most ambitious building schedule ever.”

Additional Habitat for Humanity Northeast Michigan board members and staff, the Hillman Habitat Partner family, who will be moving into the new home on Caring Street, local officials, and generous partners who have helped finance or contributed to the new home build will also attend the event. Partners and donors include the Community Financial Credit Union, The Home Depot, and the Bernards Building Center.

During the event on Thursday, Habitat for Humanity Northeast Michigan will continue Carter’s legacy by kicking off year-long participation in the Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter Work Project — 2025 Rural Rally as an officially designated affiliate by Habitat for Humanity International. The Rural Rally will run from spring through fall and include up to eight new home builds and more than 100 home repairs throughout the affiliate’s service area.

Local service clubs, churches, home financing institutions, insurance agencies, home building suppliers, utilities, governments, schools, youth groups, and other interested volunteers are invited to participate in new home builds and repairs scheduled throughout the Northeast Michigan service areas, which include Alcona, Alpena, Montmorency, Oscoda, and Presque Isle counties.

“We’ve grown from building a house a year to having five active building sites underway and several more anticipated,” Fines said. “Additionally, in 2024, we completed more than 100 home repairs, and the request for this coming year looks equally ambitious.”

Fines encourages volunteers to get involved in this rewarding work.

“To sustain this momentum, we must ramp up and engage more volunteers and partners from all five counties we serve,” Fines continued. “The greatest tribute we could make to the Carters’ life of service would be to grow the number of volunteers helping to provide housing to local families.”

Interested volunteer groups or individuals can request a registration packet by emailing director@habitatnemi.com, calling 989-354-5555, or visiting the regional Habitat office at 2630 U.S.-23 South, Alpena. Registration packets will be posted online after Jan. 15 and continue through March 31. A kick-off rally for all volunteer groups and individuals will be held on Thursday, May 8, with more details as they become available. All participants will receive official Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter Work Project — 2025 Rural Rally gear, recognition for their service, and an opportunity to sign their name or inspiring message on each new build project site banner and/or wall studs.

For more information about the Thursday events, volunteering, or applying to be a candidate for a new home build/ownership, email info@habitatnemi, call 989-354-5555, visit habitatnemi.com, or stop in at 2630 U.S.-23 South, Alpena.

Fines explained that the celebration will be held at the newly completed home at 15600 Caring St., but there will also be an opportunity to view the next Habitat construction site down the street at 15990 Caring St. in Hillman. At that site, people can sign the studs or write a personal message honoring Carter or blessing the home.

“This is an existing subdivision called the Orchard Pines subdivision,” Fines said of the neighborhood. “We now own 19-and-a-half acres that we’re going to develop, which is going to be Orchard Pines subdivision, phase two, over the next five years … We’re going to put approximately 50 new homes in that location.”

Fines touched on additional Habitat projects underway in the area.

“We just signed a purchase agreement with the Alpena County Land Bank to develop three properties on Bedford (Street), right behind Ella White (Elementary),” Fines said, adding that those house numbers are 307, 317, and 321. “We’re also in negotiations with Rogers City to develop 15 acres up there. We’re also talking to the City of Alpena to purchase some existing homes that we can develop into affordable housing.”