MEMPHIS, Tennessee — ABC24 continues to showcase how President Jimmy Carter's humanitarian work in Memphis continues to benefit the bluff city.
Last week, we first told you about the 39th President's decision to receive home hospice care in Georgia.
For dozens of families in one Bluff City neighborhood where President Carter helped build up several years, the 98-year-old's commitment to them continues to pay dividends.
"It was life changing and for me it was once in a lifetime," Habitat For Humanity homeowner Brandi Hunter said.
Years later, Hunter still beams with pride in Memphis' Uptown neighborhood she calls home.
"It was a step in the right direction for me," Hunter added.
She's now one of more than 20 homeowners in the transformed community near St. Jude, thanks to a Habitat For Humanity project spearheaded by former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn in 2015 and 2016.
"They were very personable, very warm, very approachable but most of all they were here to work," Hunter remembered.
And worked they did, putting hammer to nail and giving Memphis families new hope - by achieving home ownership.
"I think the continued benefits is the continued awareness on the need for affordable housing," Hunter said.
"President Carter helped elevate our city in a positive way," Habitat For Humanity of Greater Memphis President & CEO Dwayne Spencer said.
Spencer said he wrote a letter to President Carter on why Memphis would be an ideal fit for a large build.
President Carter not only obliged but praised the Bluff City in a one-on-one interview with ABC24 in August 2016.
"Last November we came here and checked on the Memphis Habitat organization here and found it to be one of the best in the United States," President Carter said in that interview. "They do a wide range of services for poor people and older people."
Now, with the 98-year-old former President in his second week of home hospice care in Georgia, Hunter is thinking about his family and reflecting on his humanitarian achievements, on her block and beyond.
"I think his legacy is this neighborhood," Hunter said. "He has done things all over the world, obviously he has been President but in this city, this neighborhood is his legacy and all of the people who were able to make steps in the right direction, that is part of his legacy."