Jimmy Carter Asks People to Forgo Donations to Center in Favor of Coronavirus Relief Efforts

People have banded together amid the coronavirus outbreak by helping each other out, making donations, and just performing great feats of humanity. Recently, former President Jimmy made a meaningful request.

Jimmy, 95, his wife Rosalynn Carter, and their eldest grandchild, Jason Carter, all run The Carter Center. Jason is actually the chair of the Carter Center Board of Trustees.

The center runs programs that are focused on humanitarian efforts like building homes for those in need and offering medical relief in less fortunate countries. Some of their funds for their operations are donated by ordinary citizens.

Carter asks for COVID-19 donations

However, in an effort to bring the focus on the current COVID-19 pandemic, the Carter’s had a special message on Tuesday. Taking to the organization’s website, the three family members made an important plea.

Donate to COVID-19 relief efforts

In a short statement, the Carter family asked that donors “forgo your next gift for the work of The Carter Center.” Instead, they requested that funds be directed “to a local group that is reducing the suffering caused by this pandemic.”

Jimmy calls on unity during this time

The famous family also encouraged people to “concentrate on the needs” of their “family, friends, neighbors,” and their communities. The Carter Center was founded in 1982 in Atlanta.

One of the organization's key accomplishments was the near eradication of Guinea’s worm disease. The center managed to lower an estimated 3.5 million cases in 1986 to 54 provisional cases in 2019.

The former president’s fall in 2019

Jimmy has gone out of his way over the years to help make a difference in the world as it’s something he’s passionate about. Last October, the former president fell in his Plains, Georgia home.

Needing stitches

He had to get 14 stitches at a hospital and had a black eye that morning. However, he was determined to attend an event in Nashville that same evening and still went with his wife.

Attending an important event

At the time, the couple was kicking off the 36th Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project with Habitat for Humanity. Another former US president who’s doing his bit in the fight against COVID-19 is Bill Clinton.

On Thursday, he and his wife, Hillary, sent over 400 pizzas to New York hospital workers on front lines against coronavirus.