{"id":13431,"date":"2023-01-12T17:03:41","date_gmt":"2023-01-12T22:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/?post_type=wfsu-news&p=13431"},"modified":"2023-01-13T11:09:03","modified_gmt":"2023-01-13T16:09:03","slug":"an-unhoused-tallahassee-woman-lifted-the-hearts-of-hundreds-betty-scott-is-remembered","status":"publish","type":"wfsu-news","link":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/an-unhoused-tallahassee-woman-lifted-the-hearts-of-hundreds-betty-scott-is-remembered\/","title":{"rendered":"An unhoused Tallahassee woman lifted the hearts of hundreds. Betty Scott is remembered"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How do you touch the lives of hundreds of people when everything you own fits in the space of a tent and a shopping cart? Friends say for Betty Scott, the answer was love. After the death of a woman who experienced homelessness, community members are remembering a person who had little, but gave so much.<\/p>\n

A group of about a dozen people are gathered on the sidewalk at the edge of Lake Bradford Road just past the overpass. They\u2019re surrounding the tent Betty Scott called home. As cars pass, many honk and those gathered yell “blow the horn for Betty!”<\/p>\n

Candles burn on a broken wooden chair as the group sings \u201cLean on Me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Betty was a fixture on Lake Bradford Road. Evelyn Manning lives in the neighborhood. She says Betty lived near the McDonald’s and Circle K at the end of Lake Bradford Road back in 2014. Since then, she\u2019s been moving south down the road until recently she took up a spot under the bridge, earning herself the nickname \u201cThe Lady Under the Bridge.\u201d Finally she set up her tent, couch, lounge chair and small table right beside it.<\/p>\n

Food and shelter are important, but what’s often forgotten is love.<\/h2>\n

\u201cI\u2019d try to get her to get off the streets and take her to a shelter or somewhere,\u201d says Manning who brought Betty warm food a few times a week. \u201cShe didn\u2019t want to go. She\u2019d say, \u2018I\u2019m fine. I\u2019m fine.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Lisa Ellis also lives in the neighborhood. Over time, she says she and Betty became best friends. She says services like food or shelter, or clothing are nice, but the thing people like Ms. Betty need most is love.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one thing to give food. It\u2019s another thing to sit and touch and talk. And I tried to give her that touch, that talk. I laid on the ground with her,\u201d Lisa says.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
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\n \u201cShe never judged,\u201d Lisa says. \u201cShe took people for who and what they were and that\u2019s what made her so special to me.\u201d\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n Lisa Ellis\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Lisa says she\u2019s facing the final stages of liver disease, but caring for Betty gave her a purpose.<\/p>\n

\u201cI met her a year ago when I moved into the neighborhood, and I was walking to the store one day and she was sitting in the chair crying, and I stopped and asked her what was wrong and something had happened and she was very sad and we got very close,\u201d Lisa says. \u201cSince then, I would check on her. I would set my alarm for 2 in the morning, 4 in the morning and six in the morning to check on her and make sure nobody bothered her\u2026<\/p>\n

At six Lisa would sit in a small wooden chair next to Betty\u2019s upholstered recliner and they\u2019d take their morning coffee together.<\/p>\n

\u2026She helped me and I helped her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lisa says she has lived through her own struggles including recovery from addiction and now facing a terminal illness. In the past, she felt she had to fight those battles alone. Then she met Betty. Betty gave her friendship and love.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe never judged,\u201d Lisa says. \u201cShe took people for who and what they were and that\u2019s what made her so special to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lisa isn\u2019t the only one who thought Betty was special. Throughout the candle light vigil to remember Betty\u2019s life several people stopped as they walked by\u2014asking after Betty or sharing a kind word. One passerby learned of Betty\u2019s death in that moment and was overcome with tears. On a social media post about the \u201cLady Under the Bridge\u201d more than 350 people have commented sharing their own stories.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe touched so many people that we don\u2019t even know,\u201d Manning says.<\/p>\n

Later this month, the Big Bend Continuum of Care<\/a> will begin its Point in Time survey<\/a>. It\u2019s a federally required attempt to count the number of people in the community who are experiencing homelessness to get an understanding of who the unhoused people in our community are and what sort of help they might need. <\/p>\n

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