Carter hits slopes for charity

CRESTED BUTTE - Cultures connected last week amid 20 inches of fresh powder and Rocky Mountain sunshine as children from Atlanta's troubled streets broke bread and carved ski turns with former President Jimmy Carter.

This is the eighth year that Carter and about 200 friends have visited Crested Butte to raise money for his nonprofit foundation, the Carter Center.

Most of the 10 youngsters along for the ride had never been on a plane before, let alone a pair of skis. The teens represent the top membership of an Atlanta-based mentoring and youth leadership organization called Future Force - made up of kids navigating the double-diamond runs of life.

"Almost all have been in trouble at home," Carter said during an interview Saturday. "They come from a destitute family background. Most don't have any man in the family. The only successful men they see are drug pushers and pimps."

This Rocky Mountain retreat, complete with hugs and praise from the former commander in chief, is an experiment meant to change lives and show youngsters from impoverished backgrounds what is possible.

"These kids have never seen people who have everything in life," Carter said, as the steep slopes of Mount Crested Butte basked in sunshine after three days of constant snow.

"So to come out here, to ride on a plane for the first time to prove they can ski to the top of the mountain on the first day, then sit around and talk to folks who respect them is a life-transporting experience," he said.

Thomas Brown knew little about Carter before he boarded a Delta 757 on Wednesday and flew across the country. But the trip is sure to have an impact on his life.

"This helps us to learn how to control our anger and improve our personal appearance," Brown, 15, said of Future Force as he slid across a bunny slope. "This is like an outlet to the other world for kids from alternative schools."

Brown used to fight in school. He hopes that's behind him.

"I had to get my mind out of negative things," he said. "This is a positive outlet for me, plus I'll get to put on my resume that I met Jimmy Carter."

The Future Force experience is just one part of the weekend in Crested Butte. Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, mix mountain sports, charity and fund raising during their annual trip.

They hit the slopes each day, followed by a few Secret Service agents of course, then eat with those who paid about $3,000 for the chief executive ski package.

The week's event ends with an auction that typically raises about $400,000 for the Carter Center. Carter, a skilled carpenter, brought a handcrafted bookcase to auction this year. It was expected to fetch at least $100,000.

In many ways, the charitable mountain getaway is a microcosm of Carter's way of life since being "forced into early retirement" more than 20 years ago by the Reagan Revolution and the hostage crisis in Iran.

In 1982, the Carters founded the Carter Center, which promotes peace, human rights and world health. The Carters have visited 120 countries since leaving the White House. They have monitored elections in Indonesia, helped develop better crops to reduce Third World starvation, and assisted in the fight to end killer diseases across Africa.

"The Carter Center goes where other folks don't want to go," the former president said. "We are in the villages, the homes of families in the Third World. We immunize children and work to prevent disease. All these people are just as intelligent as I am. Their ambitions are very high. Their values are strong. All of that stretches my mind and expands my heart. This is not a sacrifice; it expands our consciousness."

At 75, Carter still has a slight bounce in his step. His face and shoulders have sagged a bit with age, but he maintains the friendly smile and soft, Southern manner that helped capture the presidency in 1976.

The Carters kept a busy pace in Crested Butte. They skied a bit each day - sticking to green runs - hiked in snowshoes, chatted with their guests and fielded questions during a town hall meeting.

Carter said he was driven into global charity work to compensate for a job left undone after his re-election defeat.

"I was 56 when I left office," he said. "I had at least 25 years of life to go and came home to Plains, Ga., a town of 600 people and no job opportunities."

In addition to globe-trotting in the name of good will, Carter has written 14 books. He has helped mediate civil wars in Africa, built homes for Habitat for Humanity and taught Sunday school.

He's also been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize seven times.

Carter's good works would probably impress his mother, Lillian, who joined the Peace Corps at 68.

"She had two or three careers after my father died. She was a house mother for wild fraternity boys at Auburn and later she organized a retirement center," Carter said. "After the Peace Corps, she made 500 speeches around the country and talked about not letting age restrain a person's adventurous life."