HR 9019

1
House Resolution
2A resolution recognizing June 16, 2010, as "Budd Bell Day"
3in the State of Florida.
4
5     WHEREAS, Elizabeth Lander "Budd" Bell's impassioned
6advocacy on behalf of the state's most vulnerable citizens
7earned her the moniker the "conscience of Florida," and
8     WHEREAS, Elizabeth Lander, born in Winnipeg, Canada, on
9June 16, 1915, became the first woman president of her high
10school class, earned bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees
11in sociology, and moved to Florida in 1969 with her husband,
12William Bell, where she continued her lifelong dedication to
13improving the lives of children, elders, and people with
14disabilities or mental illness, and
15     WHEREAS, Elizabeth Lander Bell was nicknamed "Buddha,"
16later shortened to "Budd," when, as a teenager and a counselor
17at a camp for disabled children, she provided leadership and
18guidance to other counselors while sitting under a tree, cross-
19legged, reminiscent of the Buddha, discussing issues relating to
20justice for the disadvantaged, and
21     WHEREAS, in 1972, Budd Bell, after persuading the
22Legislature to match the funding provided by the Federal
23Government for child care for low-income families, founded Kids
24Incorporated of the Big Bend, Florida's first subsidized child
25care center, and
26     WHEREAS, in 1974, Budd Bell established what is now known
27as the Budd Bell Clearinghouse on Human Services, an advocacy
28coalition of over 200 member organizations devoted to providing
29human services, and was a founder of the Florida Center for
30Children and Youth and the state's Human Rights Advocacy
31Committees, which have advocated for human services clients
32since 1975, and
33     WHEREAS, Budd Bell was instrumental in drafting Florida's
34involuntary commitment law, the Baker Act, to protect the
35mentally ill from being held against their will in locked
36hospitals, and
37     WHEREAS, Budd Bell was a founding member of the National
38Association of Social Workers, and
39     WHEREAS, in 1998, Budd Bell received the Allstate Good
40Hands Award, presented to her by General Colin Powell, for her
41dedication to volunteer advocacy, and
42     WHEREAS, Budd Bell received honors and awards and achieved
43milestones too numerous to mention in the advancement of human
44social services, and
45     WHEREAS, Budd Bell sought to improve the quality of life of
46all Floridians throughout the 77 years she spent as an advocate
47for human services, NOW, THEREFORE,
48
49Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of
50Florida:
51
52     That June 16, 2010, is recognized as "Budd Bell Day" in the
53State of Florida.


CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.