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Jimmy Carter's 32-year passion to build homes (2016)
01:33 - Source: CNN
Washington CNN  — 

Former President Jimmy Carter, who underwent hip surgery last spring following a fall, plans to resume his decades-long role as a volunteer house builder with Habitat for Humanity this fall, a spokeswoman for the Carter Center confirmed to CNN on Tuesday.

The 94-year-old Democrat is set to construct 21 new homes alongside his wife, former first lady Rosalynn Carter, in Nashville, Tennessee, in October. Through the project, the Carters, who have volunteered with the organization for 35 consecutive years, will join future Habitat homeowners and other volunteers to build the homes in the Park Preserve neighborhood of Nashville, according to the organization.

This year’s build will come several months after the former president underwent successful hip surgery in May after falling at his home in Plains, Georgia. Carter, who became the oldest living president in US history in March, last participated in the 2018 Carter Work Project in Mishawaka, Indiana, alongside Rosalynn.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported Carter’s return to the project.

The former first couple has been volunteering with Habitat since 1984. Together, they’ve worked alongside “more than 103,000 volunteers in 14 countries to build, renovate or repair 4,331 homes,” according to a fact sheet from the organization. In 2017, the former president was admitted to a hospital in Winnipeg, Canada, after becoming dehydrated while working outdoors for Habitat. He was released the following day.

In addition to the hip surgery earlier this year, Carter has also undergone several other medical treatments, including successful treatment in 2015 for cancer spots on his brain and a separate operation that same year to remove a “small mass” from his liver.

CNN’s Eric Bradner and Eli Watkins contributed to this report.