Well that didn’t take long.
Proving you can't keep a good man -- or a dehydrated one -- down for long, former President Jimmy Carter returned to a Habitat for Humanity building site in Winnipeg Friday morning, one day after being hospitalized for dehydration.
Habitat for Humanity broke the news with a tweet posted at 9:01 a.m.
“President Jimmy Carter has arrived at the build site to start the final day of the 2017 #HabitatCWP in Canada.” It showed the 92-year-old Plains resident smiling at hard hat wearing volunteers and Habitat workers as he arrived.
Even before Habitat made it official, someone on the site where houses are being built in Winnipeg reacted excitedly:
Minutes later, the Carter Center released a statement that said Carter had attended the 8 a.m. morning devotional held on the building site; it made no mention of whether the devoted Habitat volunteer would be back manning his circular saw today, the fifth and final day of the 34th Habitat for Humanity Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project.
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“President Carter became dehydrated the morning of Thursday, July 13, during the build. As a precaution, he was transported to St. Boniface General Hospital for rehydration, the statement explained. “He and Mrs. Carter extend their appreciation for the many well-wishes he received worldwide.”
UPDATE: CBC News reported later Friday morning that Carter left for some rest after the devotional service "but planned to return for the closing ceremony at the site, and to thank all of the volunteers for their work," according to a Habitat for Humanity spokesperson.
Carter was accompanied by his 89-year-old wife, Rosalynn. The duo, who celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary last week, began volunteering for Habitat in 1984, then based some 10 minutes from their Plains home in Americus. Now headquartered in Atlanta, Habitat for Humanity has become a global force for good, helped along immeasurably by the Carters, who annually devote a week to building homes in different locations around the world.
Their return to the building site on Friday morning was greeted with a “huge ovation,” according to Habitat for Humanity International CEO Jonathan Reckford, who tweeted out a photo of an attentive-looking Jimmy Carter and his wife seated at the morning devotional service.
At least one person didn’t seem surprised at Carter’s quick return -- his grandson, Jason Carter. The younger Carter, the 2014 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nominee who now chairs the Carter Center’s board of trustees, is extremely close to both of his grandparents. Not long after Habitat posted the photo of Carter arriving at the building site Friday morning, Jason Carter retweeted it with the hashtag #ofcourse.
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