HR 9019

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

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