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Coca-Cola, Home Depot make donations to honor Jimmy Carter

By
Published  January 7, 2025 6:57am EST
Jimmy Carter
FOX 5 Atlanta

Carter's final day lying in repose in Atlanta

Tuesday morning is the final time that mourners can pay their respects to former President Jimmy Carter as he lies in repose at the Carter Center in Atlanta. FOX 5 has been talking to some of the people across Georgia who traveled to say goodbye.

The Brief

    • The Coca-Cola Company and The Home Depot are paying tribute to former President Jimmy Carter by donating to two of his favorite causes. 
    • Carter had a deep relationship with both companies. As president, he brought Coca-Cola back to the White House and was close friends with Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank.
    • One of Carter's biggest causes was his work building homes with Habitat for Humanity.

ATLANTA - Two of Georgia's largest companies are honoring former President Jimmy Carter through big donations to causes he championed.

The Coca-Cola Company announced that it was donating $250,000 to the Carter Center and Habitat for Humanity to help support the Georgia leader's legacy of community work.

"President Carter was a tireless advocate for education, health, peace and justice for all," said James Quincey, chairman and CEO of The Coca‑Cola Company. "His principles and legacy of values-driven leadership will continue to inspire here in Georgia and around the country and world."

LIVE: Jimmy Carter's funeral services move from Atlanta to DC

The company said that Carter was a longtime supporter of the Georgia-based soft drink.

When he was elected to the presidency, he switched the White House's soda preference from Pepsi to Coca-Cola. He also appointed former Coca-Cola Company president Charles Duncan as his Deputy Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Energy.

After leaving office, Carter continued to have a strong relationship with the country. In 1986, Coca-Cola's president, chairman and CEO Roberto Goizueta chaired the steering committee to establish the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta.

Former President Jimmy Carter works on the 1,000th home to be built by Habitat for Humanity on the Gulf Coast on May 21, 2007, in Violet, Louisiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

MORE: Atlanta Habitat ReStore honors Jimmy Carter with memorial door for public tributes

The Home Depot is also paying tribute to Carter with a $250,000 donation to Habitat for Humanity.

In a statement after the former president's death, co-founder Arthur M. Blank said that Carter was a "dear friend and role model."

"He was a great American, a proud Georgian, and an inspirational global humanitarian," Blank said. "He lived his life with great civic responsibility and took it upon himself to be the change he wished to see amongst others."

Blank said that he first met Carter at The Home Depot, and he would always remember him as an "enthusiastic do-it-yourselfer who always rolled up his own sleeves to help others."

Carter and his wife Rosalynn spent decades helping build thousands of homes with Habitat for Humanity. Many of those projects were in Atlanta and some of the original residents still live in those homes to this day.

The Source: Information for this story came from statements and releases by the Coca-Cola Company and The Home Depot as well as previous FOX 5 reporting.

Jimmy CarterCoca-ColaHome DepotNews