Former president, U.S. Dream Academy founder unite for common cause

ALBANY — Even though people living in the northern part of the state may not be invested in a non-profit nestled in Southwest Georgia, interest in the betterment of community in such a region can still exist on a national scale.

That was evident recently when a former United States president and a figure nationally known for his singing voice and passion for the children of incarcerated parents, came together for the common cause of ensuring a stronger future at a recent Boys & Girls Clubs fundraiser in rural Georgia.

As an indication that four years in the White House and a Nobel Peace Prize were not enough to make him forget his South Georgia roots, Jimmy Carter, the nation’s 39th president and a native of Plains, goes to the Boys & Girls Club of Americus-Sumter County Steak and Stake event every year.

The former U.S. Navy officer and peanut farmer, along with his wife, Rosalynn Carter, are also actively involved in Habitat for Humanity as well as an organization dedicated to disease eradication and world peace known as the Carter Center.

The couple, who celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary earlier this month, have faced the hardships associated with raising four children and a cancer scare. Those might be considered good reasons to enjoy their retirement, but the choice was to continue to give back during what is already the longest retirement of any former commander-in-chief.

There is a unit of the Boys & Girls Club of Americus-Sumter County named for the Carters.

“The Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter Boys & Girls Club is something very close to us,” the former president said. “This is one of the best things we can do for this entire nation.”

For a child who is having trouble in school, their education can be helped along. English can be taught, he said, as well as the computer skills needed to succeed.

“It is a pleasure for me to participate in what I believe is one of the best programs (for children),” Carter said.

Bill Harris Sr., founder of the Boys & Girls Club of Americus-Sumter County, shared a few things about the 91-year-old Plains resident at the fundraiser, saying he was active in basketball and cross country in his youth, and that he was once a motorcycle owner who claims “Amazing Grace” as his favorite hymn.

Harris said Carter also attends concerts and is still active in his church. Carter’s favorite sport is baseball, and as a child he had to be punished by his father for acts such as stealing a penny from the church collection plate and shooting his sister with a BB gun. And his favorite president was Harry Truman.

Harris also shared something about Jimmy Carter that reflected his gratitude toward him.

“No former president has set a better example than President Carter after he left office,” he said.

At the event, pictures of those in the Boys & Girls Club community were shown with the Carters by their side.

Joining the Carters was also Wintley Phipps, a Trinidad native who spent part of his childhood in Canada. He is now a world-known vocal artist, pastor, motivational speaker and education activist. Much of that work is through his current role as CEO of the U.S. Dream Academy, an organization he founded to provide tutoring and mentoring to the children of incarcerated parents and those falling behind in school.

“Our goal is to break that cycle,” Phipps said. “You have to really see the difference your work makes, and to see that difference, you have to see what (life is like) when there is no interaction.”

Phipps said singing, a talent he polished primarily through listening to the radio, is what focused him and he has since had the opportunity to perform in front of several United States presidents, including Carter, at distinguished celebrations. His rendition of “Amazing Grace,” which he performed at the Americus event and also for Mother Teresa shortly before her death, is particularly famous.

Phipps also recalled performing at a prison in South Carolina, where he noticed something interesting about the audience that motivated him.

“For a moment, it felt like I was on a black college campus,” he said.

Phipps developed a passion for opening up futures for children, and for causes such as the Boys & Girls Club that help to build character for the nation’s youth.

“(Character) is what they need more than anything else to survive,” he said.

Phipps and his wife, Linda Phipps, will be married 40 years in August. The couple has traveled to every continent except for Antarctica out of their passion for the greater good, an accomplishment not commonly expected for someone who grew up in a troubled home.

During his childhood, Phipps said he would sometimes go out to his tricycle, close his eyes and daydream of what his life could be.

“I thought being with important people meant I was important too,” he said.

When Phipps’ ambitions turned to music, he wanted to meet Sly Stone. He reached out to Tom Jones several years ago, and ended up getting a special invitation to see him.

“I met heroes who had the world at their feet, but were not happy,” he said.

He said he then turned to God for guidance, and never invested in a manager or agent. He has appeared on Soul Train, and one day talked to a woman who was about to lose her job and he told her God would bless her.

“That is how I met Oprah Winfrey 35 years ago,” he said of that woman.

Chuck Colson, founder Prison Fellowship and BreakPoint, got Phipps connected to singing at prisons.

“I didn’t realize until I started doing this work that one-third of African-American men ages 18-30 are incarcerated,” Phipps said. “Sixty to 70 percent of all children who end up in prison come up from (prisoners). There is a generational cycle of incarceration.

“We are working to break that cycle.”

Part of his inspiration also comes from the link between school performance and incarceration, since 60 percent of all black males with no high school degree will end up behind bars by age 30, Phipps said.

“Thank God for the Boys & Girls Club of Americus-Sumter County,” he told those at the fundraiser. “What good will an open door be for you if you are drunk and stagger through it? You need to have character.”

He used the Carters, and the other supporters of the Boys & Girls Club, as a good example to show the impact of giving back.

“The reason we were created is to give every day,” he said. “(Courage, patience, self-control and character) is what you are doing for these young people.

“You have no idea whose dreams you are nurturing … There are lots of little boys with dreams in Americus, and lots of little girls with dreams in Americus. Thank you for nurturing and investing in those dreams.”

Jennifer Parks