Page 47 - Florida Sentinel 5-6-22

East Tampa CRA To Honor Betty Bell
The East Tampa CRA has a privilege of honoring Mrs. Betty Bell for their Commu- nity Heroes recognition for the month of May.
Mrs. Bell has spent the last 40 years serving her High- land Pines Community in mul- tiple aspects, which included Crime Watch Coordinator and Community Advocate. In those positions she was able to assist in bringing a Community House, Recreation Center, walking path, basketball court, racquet ball, tennis court, pic- nic shelters, playground equip- ment and several other initiatives in the surrounding Neighborhoods.
Some of those initiatives in- cluded a reading program for 2nd graders at Oak Park Ele- mentary School, named Read- ing Grannies and the development of the Jazzy Sen- iors in the Jackson Heights Community in 2011 where she was named the President and holds that title up until present day.
Mrs. Bell has received multiple awards over the past years, some of those awards in- clude City of Tampa’s Tonya Lewis Award, “Grandmother Honoree” by the East Tampa CAC, Tampa Organization of Black Affairs Honoree, CCW Hand Maiden of the Lord Award and many more.
Mrs. Bell would like to recognize some individuals who have made her dream of community service a reality: her children who are her “trea- sures” and support her every day, Evangeline Best, which she states, “Was an inspiration
MRS. BETTY BELL
and pushed her to do more with her community and for her community,” she credits that relationship to the many Honors she has received and the experiences and opportuni- ties she was fortunate to be a part of for many years.
Mrs. Bell continues to be an active member of her High- land Pines community and en- courages the younger generation to take a stand and put some work into their com- munities, she believes in pass- ing the torch and making sure the value of community service is passed down to generations to come.
The community businesses, partners, and community members are welcome to come celebrate Mrs. Bell and hear about the ETCRP (East Tampa Community Revitalization Partnership) and all the great work being done for the East Tampa Residents.
ETCRP meetings are typi- cally held every 2nd Tuesday at Ragan Park Community Cen- ter. Mrs. Bell will be honored on May 10th at 10am.
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