Former Boys and Girls Clubs of Albany CEO reflects on working together with Carters

ALBANY, Ga. – As Georgia prepares to say goodbye to former President Jimmy Carter for the final time, we speak with one Albany man who helped the Carter family give back in their later years to the Boys and Girls Club.

Marvin Laster was the longtime CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs in the Albany area, and around 2018, he got the chance to work closely with the Carter family in expanding to Plains.

“The conversation was about would Boys and Girls Clubs of Albany be interested in bringing their club house under the umbrella of Boys and Girls Clubs of Albany. And, he made it very clear. They made it very clear that they were willing to do just about anything to ensure that we would bring that club under our umbrella,” said Marvin Laster, former CEO, Boys and Girls Clubs of Albany.

Laster spoke about all they had done to bring back the Sumter County Boys and Girls Club from the brink and give a place for kids.

“He would say… ‘Marvin, I never ask my friends for money.’ And, I said ‘President Carter, you don’t have to. You just get me in the room, and I’ll ask him.’ But, we wrote we wrote letters and we created a campaign called a Carter Campaign for Kids…” said Laster.

And… the work they put in was wildly successful.

“…And, a part of that promise was that we raised over five and a half $5.5 million dollars for not only just the Boys and Girls Club located in Plains in Sumter county, but the Boys and Girls Clubs of Albany organization that benefits kids. Not only Albany, Dougherty county, but kids in Macon county and kids in Sumter county,” said Laster.

To Laster, it was the highlight of his career.

And… the impact he had working with Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter isn’t over just because of the former President’s passing.

“He and his spirit and their spirit will live on forever. We’re only being robbed of their physical presence every day. But, we’re not being robbed of the spirit that Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter left behind. We want to always do what we can for the for the best of humanity,” said Laster.

The Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Boys and Girls Club in Plains is currently one of only two Boys and Girls Clubs in the country named after a former President.

Brian Roche reporting.

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