Kristens+african+american+projectttt

SEND BETTY JEAN A LINK TO YOUR VIDEO WHEN DONE: __grant@erie.gov __

YOU COULD ALSO SET-UP AN INTERVIEW WITH HER

You have to be determined to suceed
 * Betty Jean Grant**

1 of 16 children very talkative born and bred in Tennessee Opened a store She was also trained in nursing prior to opening the store.

|| 1 she moved || Betty Jean Grant and her husband moved to Buffalo, NY in 1980. While they were there they opened a mom and pop store on East Ferry Street. || || 2 made alot of friends || Betty Jean Grant made alot of friends in Buffalo. She knew so many people because they would always stop by her shop. || || 3 people were getting sick || Little by little, Betty Jean noticed that so many people in her neighborhood were becoming seriously ill, young and old alike. For example, her friend's daughter always came to her store, but in the last few days she wasn't visiting. One day her mom came in and said that she was very sick. Her friends daughter was loosing her hair and was very weak. Everyday more people would come in and tell her that there freind, neighbor, or family member was sick. Eventually, it was discovered that they had Lupus or another type of autoimmune disease. People in the community actually expected to develop lupus, Rheumatoid (rue-ma-toyed) arthritis or diabetes by the time they reached 20 or 30 years old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! || || 4 she wanted to do somthing about it || Betty Jean was concered and alarmed. The question running through her mind was why were all these people getting sick in her neighborhood? She figured the best way to help her community and figure out this terrible situation would be to run for a seat on the city council. She figured she would be in a position to help her neighbors.. Unfortunately, she lost. Loosing the election made her want to keep going and try again. || || 5 keep trying || Betty Jean kept trying and ran again for a seat in the city council, but this time she won. She became a city council women for the District of Buffalo. But she still continued to hear stories about people getting sick. || || 6 soil was checked || She came across a note in the paper from the Buffalo Environmental Management Commission. The note talked about the high levels of toxic waste and large amounts of lead located on 858 East Ferry street. The site was located right in the middle of the neighborhood! The strange thing was that the note was dated three years ago, but it was just coming to the city council. The people in the community felt that it had been ingnored for 3 years because it was a poor African American community. || || 7 people started to help her 8 still helping || Betty Jean was speechless to hear all the hazardous waste found in that lot. There had originally been a plan to remove the toxic soil from the site, with a cost of over 1 million dollars. The state superfund went bankrupt and there was no money left to remove the toxic waste. Nothing was done with the site. Betty Jean also read that the NY state department of Environmental Conservation had sent a letter to surrounding residents and businesses warning them of a toxic waste site in their neigborhood. Betty Jean had never received the letter. She asked all of her friends and customers and they also never received the letter. For 14 years people were wondering why everone was getting sick - they would have remembered that letter.
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Betty Jean wanted to do what ever it took to save the neighborhood. She made a billboard telling people to call if they have ever lived on East Ferry street. She made posters warning of the danger on the lot and put them around Buffalo, NY. When people saw this they wanted to help too, many of them had Lupus already. She sent letters to everyone that lived on East Ferry street letting them know about the toxic waste. She even wrote to some local papers letting residents know about the toxic waste site. || || 9 the city started to help || At a council meeting she brought up the East Ferry street topic and people ignored the subject. She said that this was important and people were dieing from this, finally it got there attention. Children had actually played at that site for years! Finally, the city's enviromental conservation put up a fence around 858 East Ferry street saying No Trespassing- Toxic Waste Site. The neighborhood had wanted to put a fence up, but wasn't allowed because the city owned the land. Unfortunately, Betty Jean knew that this would help but not solve the problem. || || 10 almost there || There were more soil testing in the East Ferry area and the soil had spread out into more areas. There was now 4 times more lead and toxic waste in the soils than before. Betty Jean and her team had identified 143 people - 110 with Lupus and 33 with other autoimmune diseases- in the East Ferry Street area. || || 11they fixed the problem || In 2006, Betty Jean Grant and all her friends presented enough of a case to clean up East Ferry Street. In 1999 to clean up the site it would have cost them 1.3 million dollars, but it was nearly six times that now. The cost to clean up the site was 7.7 million dollars. It cost so many people their good health. In late 2006, they began digging up the soil and clearing up the site. Some people say its too late, so many people have gotton sick and they have lived there for most of there life and never new about the toxic waste site. Someone might appear healthy today, but get a autoimmune disease in the future because of earlier exposer. Betty Jean Grant never gave up. If it hadn't been for her efforts the site would not have been cleaned up and people would be at an even greater health risk. She was determined to fix the problem in her neighborhood and did. She saved a lot of lifes in the future because she was determind to succeed. || [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] []
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