Carter Work Project Partners Get the Job Done

Hosting the 2024 Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project created a huge boost for Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity’s development at The Heights on St. Paul’s Greater East Side. But the investment and impact extends beyond the 30 homes that volunteers helped build. Twin Cities Habitat was intentional about supporting as many locally-owned businesses as possible to help execute this event, and we prioritized working with BIPOC- and women-led companies.

It takes a village and a huge amount of coordination to pull off this type of event. We are immensely grateful to the dozens of local vendors and partners that helped create such an amazing experience for our guests—from catering to entertainment and beyond. Click through the photo galleries below to view fun images from the event.

Many thanks to our build site hospitality partners:

20,000 square feet of tenting provided by Ultimate Events.

M Health Fairview team photo

Chef Jeff Catering provided 1,000 breakfasts and 1,000 lunches every day for five days!

MOR Golf and Utility provided 14 golf carts.

Celebrating President Carter's 100th birthday with delicious cupcakes from Amy's Cupcake Shoppe.

• Do Good Events for their amazing and invaluable event coordination to provide top-notch Minnesota hospitality on the build site.
• Chef Jeff Catering for fueling our volunteers on site with delicious breakfasts and lunches all week—nearly 10,000 meals! And thanks to Chef Jeff’s food rescue efforts, nearly 1,000 servings were saved from waste and donated to local organizations.
• We Cater to You for serving all beverages to volunteers, including brewing thousands of cups of coffee using grounds donated by Caribou Coffee, and providing more than 10,000 units of soft drinks and PowerAde, plus dinners for our evening Elf Crews.
• Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community for donating 12,000 water bottles to stock coolers and keep volunteers hydrated.
• Ultimate Events for all our event rentals, including 20,000+ square feet of tenting, 1,000+ chairs, 100+ tables, food service equipment, and more.
• Big Event Productions for handling all audio/visual production at the build site and opening ceremony, creating a best-in-class event experience, including real-time captioning to increase accessibility.
• Minnesota Coaches for transporting volunteers safely between the build site, hotels, special events, and remote parking locations.
• Metro Cold-Storage for providing refrigerator and freezer trailers, including water refill stations to reduce our reliance on bottled water.
• Amy's Cupcake Shoppe for baking hundreds of cupcakes to celebrate President Carter’s 100^th birthday.
• MOR Golf and Utility for providing 14 golf carts to aid with transporting supplies and people across the quarter-mile long construction and event site.
• The Vanella Group for providing waste management services and education to capture compostables and recyclables in order to reduce landfill-bound waste.
• Dem-Con for hauling all construction and event waste throughout the week and overseeing responsible disposal.
• Biffs for supplying and servicing all restrooms and handwashing stations, including a wheelchair-accessible restroom trailer.
• ASIA Security for securing the site around the clock to keep our people and property safe.
• M Health Fairview Medical and EMS Team for on-site first aid medical response services. They provided excellent care for the minor cuts, bumps, and bruises on site; thankfully, our volunteers experienced no significant injuries.

Thank you to our build site construction partners:

Doran's work ahead of Carter Work Project ensured our build site was ready for volunteers, including several units that were near completion.

Scaffold Service kept volunteers safe and allowed them to build second floors and put up roof trusses.

Lowe's provided power tools, hand tools, and other equipment throughout the week.

• Doran Companies for preparing multiple units despite significant weather challenges and ensuring the build site was ready for volunteers, as well as installing our perimeter fencing to secure the build site.
• Lyman Lumber for supplying the lumber, roofing, and other building materials delivered to the build site throughout the week.
• Lowe's for partnering with us to provide power tools, hand tools, and equipment, also delivered to the build site throughout the week.
• Scaffold Service for providing the necessary scaffolding to safely work on 30  multi-story units.
• Ryan Companies for donating their Nursing Parents trailer; it was utilized every day it was on site. And for additional construction trailers used by staff on site.
• Sunbelt for providing auxiliary power to support construction and hospitality operations. Lighting was key in the early morning hours as volunteers arrived.
• City of St. Paul inspectors for being available to match our accelerated build schedule for the week.
• Saint Paul Port Authority for leading the development of The Heights and selecting us as one of its trusted build partners. 

Thank you to our Opening Ceremony partners:

Habitat for Humanity International CEO Jonathan Reckford speaking at the Opening Ceremony at Union Depot in St. Paul.

Viktor the Viking and Mudonna share a dance with music from NUNNABOVE.

Minnesota Vikings Skol Line hypes people up as they enter the Opening Ceremony.

Beautiful and festive décor provided by Event Lab.

Looking forward to a great week ahead.

• St. Paul’s Union Depot for hosting our Opening Ceremony and after party on the plaza.
• NUNNABOVE for sharing their talents and the best of Minnesota sound with our guests.
• L.A. Buckner & BiG HOMiE for bringing incredible jazz music to the welcome reception.
• Pete Rhodes and Black Music America for booking and coordinating our music entertainment.
• The Vikings SKOL Line and Cheerleaders for drumming up excitement on the plaza before the event.
• Our local mascot friends, Mudonna, PK, Rory, Viktor, and Goldy, for countless high fives and antics.
• Big Event Productions for providing audio/visual production, including coordinating live streaming to YouTube for at-home viewers. View the Opening Ceremony!
• Jon Berry for bringing incredible energy to the event as our emcee (and squeezing us in before hosting a Lynx playoff game at Target Center).
• Lake Elmo Inn for providing food for the Opening Ceremony and also handing out beverages during the after party.
• Event Lab for providing festive décor for the Opening Ceremony and after party.
• The New Standards for providing a great array of music during the after party.
• Dual Citizen Brewing Company, lead sponsor of the House that Beer Built, for providing complimentary beer at the Opening Ceremony after party.
• Number Twelve Cider for donating cider to the after party.
• Alexis Bailly Vineyards for donating wine to the after party.
• Shout out to the local food trucks that brought Minnesota flavor: Dine-1-1-, El Burrito Mercado, Brick Oven Bus, and Hometown Creamery.
• One Simple Plan and St. Paul Downtown Alliance for teaming up to execute our vision for the after party.
• Allied Universal Security and St. Paul Police for providing security during the after party.

Thank you to our Closing Ceremony partners:

Passing the ceremonial hammer to Austin Habitat for Humanity, the 2025 Carter Work Project hosts.

Twin Cities Road Crew dancers bringing the energy at the Closing Ceremony.

Dancing and celebrating a job well done.

Dairy Queen donated 1,400 Dilly Bars.

Celebrating an amazing week!

• Twin Cities Road Crew for providing entertainment, excitement, and amazing dance moves at both our Opening and Closing Ceremonies.
• Jon Berry for emceeing the event and keeping the party going.
• DJ Miss Brit for bringing music and good vibes.
• Dairy Queen for donating 20 cases of Dilly Bars (that's 1,440 Dilly Bars!) to volunteers on the last day of the build.
• Grandpa Steve’s Kettle Corn for providing 1,500 bags of caramel and kettle corn.
• Corner Balloon Shoppe for adding fun inflatable flair to our closing ceremony.
• Slice Pizza for delivering nearly 100 pizzas on Friday night to fuel our staff clean-up party.

Thank you to our Build Forward Bash partners:

Build Forward Bash at The Armory in Minneapolis!

Having fun at the 360 photo booth.

Habitat Minnesota with giveaways at the Build Forward Bash.

St. Paul and the Minneapolis Funk All Stars set the stage.

The Family Stone headlined the event and brought the house down.

Habitat for Humanity International provided the impactful Advancing Black Homeownership display.

• The Minneapolis Armory and Entourage Events Group for hosting and providing excellent event services to our guests.
• The Family Stone for headlining the event and inspiring all of us with their soulful sound and infectious enthusiasm.
• St. Paul and the Minneapolis Funk All Stars for kicking off the event with their unique funk sound and crowd-favorite Prince hits.
• Jonathan Scott, Property Brothers co-host, entrepreneur, and Habitat Humanitarian, for bringing enthusiasm and humor as our emcee.
• Allied Productions for incredible audio/visual production.
• Monique Linder and OMG Studios for booking the talent and coordinating an unbeatable concert experience.
• Habitat for Humanity International for bringing and installing the powerful Advancing Black Homeownership exhibit.
• Twin Cities Photobooth for installing and running the very fun 360 video booths.
• Event Lab for providing impactful décor.
  

Thank you to all the other partners who supported this effort:

The City of St. Paul and City of Minneapolis declare Tuesday, October 1, 2024 Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity and Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project Day during the Opening Ceremony.

FastSigns printed festive banners for our Opening Ceremony at Union Depot, as well as build site signage.

Branding Wearhouse produced thousands of light blue (and comfy) volunteer t-shirts for Carter Work Project week.

Long-time Twin Cities Habitat volunteer and freelance photographer Dennis Chick of Dennis Chick Photography was on site every day wielding two cameras to capture all the action!

• Branding Wearhouse for producing thousands of event t-shirts, stocking our Nailed-It! Merch Store on the build site, and for hosting our online apparel store. 
• Bellmont Partners for leading our media relations efforts to generate awareness of the event in the community. Our earned media brought in more than three BILLION impressions!
• FastSigns for producing impactful signage on the build site and at other events, including festive light pole banners in downtown St. Paul.
• Auction Harmony for coordinating registration and name badges for all attendees on the build site and at events.
• Wallace-Carlson for printing Twin Cities Habitat’s popular hard hat stickers.
• Bedd Head Media for helping coordinate our paid advertising plan and spreading the word about this amazing event.
• Captivate Media for producing incredible and inspiring videos used throughout the week, including the History + Impact of Carter Work Project, Opening Ceremony Hype Video, Build Site Walk Through, 60-second Event Recap Video, and an inspiring three-minute Recap Video. They truly captured the energy of the week’s events and activities.
• Local hip-hop artist, Nur-D, for starring in our Opening Ceremony Hype Video and hyping everyone up for an amazing week.
• Dennis Chick Photography for capturing almost every moment of this historic week with stunning, and often humorous, photos.
• Greater East Side Community Council for partnering with us on the entire journey of building at The Heights. Thank you for being our cheerleader and making sure we are connected to those that live in the neighborhood.
• City of St. Paul for supporting this event and our work at The Heights, as well as declaring the whole week Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity and Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project Week in the city.
• City of Minneapolis for supporting the Build Forward Bash and also declaring Tuesday, October 1, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity and Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project Day.
• St. Paul Fire and Police for helping us with crisis planning and advising protocols.
• The Minnesota State Fairgrounds for hosting our off-site parking location for volunteers and staff.
• Aldrich Ice Arena for serving as our transportation hub for buses and media parking, as well as our evacuation site in case of emergency (thankfully, not utilized!).

Finally, thank you to Habitat for Humanity International for partnering with us during the entire process preparing for the event. We were honored to be chosen to host the event and immeasurably grateful for the collaboration.

Relive the 2024 Carter Work Project by viewing the official Carter Work Project Photo Album and our full recap video!