Kincaid Furniture honors Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter for Habitat work

Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, February 2, 2012

At the presentation are Kim Kincaid, left; President Jimmy Carter; Jon Porter, Tim Annas and Max Dyer, all of Kincaid; Rosalynn Carter; Steve Kincaid, Kincaid; and Mark Minick, Minick Interiors, Americus, Ga.

HUDSON, N.C. — In November, case goods supplier Kincaid Furniture presented one of its dry sinks to two of Habitat for Humanity's best known volunteers - former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn.

Kincaid heard that Rosalynn Carter wanted to buy one of the company's Vintage Pine dry sinks. But the manufacturer, a corporate partner of Habitat for Humanity, which builds homes for those in need, decided to present the Carters with the sink in honor of their years of service to Habitat.

Rosalynn Carter had seen the sink, part of Kincaid's Homecoming Collection, at Minick Interiors in Americus, Ga.

"Since 1984, the Carter Work Project has been an internationally recognized Habitat event and the former president and first lady have become well known as Habitat's most famous volunteers," said Steve Kincaid, president of Kincaid. "We were honored to have the opportunity to present the couple with a piece of furniture they loved that commemorates their many years of dedicated service to the organization."

Kincaid inscribed the dry sink with a plaque that reads, "Presented to President Jimmy Carter and wife Rosalynn by Kincaid Furniture Co., for tireless devotion to Habitat for Humanity International and its mission to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world."

Kincaid donates 1% from the wholesale price of each item sold from the Homecoming Collection to Habitat for Humanity.

Company officials traveled to the Carters' home in Plains, Ga., for the presentation. The former president, whose home is filled with family antiques and pieces he built himself, talked about solid wood craftsmanship with his visitors and showed them his woodworking shop and paintings.

"He was very casual and gracious with his time, and at some point, he asked if we'd like to go to Archery to see his boyhood home. The next thing we knew, we were in the middle of a presidential motorcade heading through southwest Georgia," Steve Kincaid said.

"It turned out to be an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be able to actually spend time with the president and Mrs. Carter, and to learn more about their family, their preferences and their heritage. Suffice it to say, it was a day I doubt our team will ever forget!"