'Jimmy Carter house' source of pride for Winnipeg woman decades after Habitat build

Few people can say they live in a house built by a former U.S. president, but Cheryl Pelletier is one of them — and later this week, another Winnipeg family will also be able to make that claim.

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Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter helped build her home, which she's been living in since 1993, with Habitat for Humanity. He and his wife, Rosalynn, will return to the city on Thursday and Friday to help with another Habitat for Humanity build.

"It looks pretty good," Pelletier recalled thinking when she moved into her new house in 1993. "They said I had the Jimmy Carter house. It was pretty neat."

And she has no plans to leave anytime soon.

"I'm just probably going to die here."

Pelletier is proud of her home and the 500 hours of work she put in to get an interest-free mortgage, which made raising two kids a little easier for the single mom.

In 1993, the former president came to Winnipeg for the first time to help Habitat for Humanity build 18 homes.

Jimmy Carter Habitat For Humanity project in Winnipeg, July 19, 1993

7 years ago

Duration 1:41

Seven hundred volunteers picked up hammers and saws for the official launch of the Habitat for Humanity project in Winnipeg. Former President of United States Jimmy Carter was right there alongside them.

Pelletier's was one of them, and she remembers seeing a hard-working Jimmy Carter get right down to business. "He didn't take time to chat with everybody — he just wanted to get his thing done," she said.

Carter also made Pelletier a cutting board to protect her brand new counters.

He'll join volunteers in Manitoba who are working to build 25 new homes over the next week as part of a nationwide effort from July 9-14 to build 150 new homes in commemoration of Canada 150.

Owners must meet special requirements

To qualify as a Habitat homeowner, applicants must have kids, a minimum income of $26,000 a year and little debt. They also have to be working, and are required to put in 500 hours of "sweat equity" — or volunteer labour — on their home.

If accepted, families can buy the home interest-free.

"We do not want to set up the family for failure," said Sandy Hopkins, chief executive officer of Habitat for Humanity Manitoba.

He said the goal is to keep families in their homes for at least 10 years because studies have shown children do better in school and are more likely to go on to post-secondary education when they aren't bouncing around.

Hopkins said with the new homes being built this month, nearly 400 homes have been built in Manitoba since 1985, when the first Habitat home in the province went up in Winkler.

As for Pelletier, she still has that cutting board from Carter and said she is forever grateful to be a Habitat homeowner. She said as a single mom, paying a regular mortgage would have been a big challenge.

"The interest could kill you."

Cheryl Pelletier's Jimmy Carter house

7 years ago

Duration 2:27

Few people can say they live in a house built by a former U.S. president, but Cheryl Pelletier is one of them. The Winnipeg woman has been living in her home — the Jimmy Carter House since 1993 and has no plans to leave anytime soon.