[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 103 (Friday, July 12, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1270-E1271]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              DR. REED BELL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE NETWORKS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOE SCARBOROUGH

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 12, 1996

  Mr. SCARBOROUGH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about a very 
ambitious and worthwhile program that has been started in my district, 
and about the man who has brought it all together. My district, like 
many across the country has its fair share of broken homes and families 
in need. We have learned that Washington does not always have the 
answer to these problems. So we in northwest Florida have started 
something called a Community Service Network, and with it, we are 
tackling the problems that face our area and are helping those in my 
district who are truly in need.
  Community Service Networks are an alliance of different church, 
civic, and volunteer groups that get together to take care of the poor 
in their communities. The civic groups in these networks go directly 
out into their communities as care teams, bringing aid directly to the 
poor not only with food and medicine, but sometimes even with just 
advice or by lending a sympathetic ear.
  This idea of a privately organized community effort to help the poor 
is a concept I had hoped to begin for some time. Fortunately, northwest 
Florida has community leaders with a strong sense of civic pride and a 
willingness to help those in need.
  One such community leader is Dr. Reed Bell, a pediatrician who has 
spent many years in my district caring for children from poor and 
disadvantaged families. Dr. Bell had seen the

[[Page E1271]]

struggles and setbacks of poor children and he knew firsthand how hard 
life can be for the poor and underprivileged. It is an experience that 
left him deeply impressed with the urgent need for community action to 
help those who cannot help themselves.
  When Dr. Bell approached me with his own ideas for mobilizing 
community resources, I found that we shared a common belief that 
something needed to be done for the poor right here at home. We also 
found that we agreed that whatever was done, it had to be a private 
sector initiative, not just another government program. So Dr. Bell 
immediately began to meet with those in my district who were most 
interested in aiding the disadvantaged. When it was all done, and after 
much work and numerous meetings with both prominent people, groups, and 
ordinary citizens, the Community Service Network concept was born.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to say that this approach is catching on 
around the Nation. The New York Times recently reported an explosive 
growth in groups just like the CSN's. The Times article said that 
people are tired of waiting for Washington to step in and that they are 
digging in and doing their part; saying in effect, ``Forget waiting for 
the Federal Government. We can do it ourselves.''
  Mr. Speaker, that is what we are doing in my district. That is what 
Dr. Bell has done his whole career and is still doing to this day. This 
is not a political revolution, it is a revolution of thought and 
spirit. It is a movement by Americans to reclaim their country and to 
say, ``Yes, we can make a difference.'' So it is today that I give my 
congratulations to Dr. Bell and the hundreds of men and women who are 
out there making a difference. We are all a little better today for 
what Dr. Bell has done, and I believe that we in this body owe them a 
debt of thanks.

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