Blog | From the CEO: What I’m Thankful For

Paige Alexander is chief executive officer of The Carter Center.

This is the time of year when I — probably like you — can’t help but think about all the things I’m thankful for. The list always starts out with the tried-and-true standards of good health, a loving family, and the comforts of modern life — a cozy home, a working car, a fridge full of Coke Zero.

But as the leader of The Carter Center, my list of blessings extends to some out-of-the-ordinary areas. I am thankful that just four human cases of Guinea worm disease have been reported this year. This is a truly remarkable accomplishment, given that it wasn’t all that long ago that cases were counted in the millions. The hard-working people on our global staff and the hundreds of thousands of volunteers in tens of thousands of villages have made this happen, and I’m so grateful.

Likewise, I’m thankful for thousands of sight-saving surgeries supported by our Trachoma Control Program, the elimination of river blindness in vast areas of Uganda and Nigeria, and the major steps forward in our fight against lymphatic filariasis and malaria in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. People at the end of the road are getting healthier with our assistance, and that is a cause for gratitude.

I continue to be thankful for human rights defenders who fight against oppression and for climate protection, and for those who stand up for the rights of women and girls. I’m grateful to be part of an organization that believes in and supports internationally recognized principles of democracy.

As I suspect you are, I am deeply thankful for President Carter’s long and well-lived life and for his and Mrs. Carter’s extraordinary example of practical humanitarianism. What a gift. And finally, I am grateful to you for supporting us in all the work we are doing around the world. We honestly could not do it without you.