Beth Stricklin Bates Wins B. Riney Green Award 2011
Just two weeks ago, a group of 160 of my colleagues, friends, and heroes (coincidentally, they are all the same group) gathered for a few days of learning and laughter at Equal Justice University, Class of 2011. The highlight of the conference occurred during the awards dinner on Wednesday night, October 12. It was not the chicken shish kabobs and rice. It was not the beautiful peacock feathers on the tables. It was not even the president of LSC, Jim Sandman—who simultaneously inspired and grounded us with his passionate yet humble address. In fact, his rousing words whetted our appetites for the culmination of the evening, the biggest award given each year by TALS, the B. Riney Green Award.
The official description states that the B. Riney Green award is a way to “recognize and emphasize the value the access to justice community has for a particular kind of accomplishment – one that promotes inter-program cooperation and strengthens access to justice across the state”.
Weeks before the event a committee met, carefully considered many nominations, and with great conviction and passion, two awardees were chosen. And the winners were….Beth Bates of West TN Legal Services and Russ Overby with the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands! And so it is that this blog post focuses on Beth…with a subsequent post forthcoming about our very remarkable Russ.
I was personally thrilled for Beth—and in complete agreement with the committee who chose her. The official nomination (by Theresa-Vay Smith) included these words:
“Beth worked on the DHS waiver of food stamp overpayment for agency errors. Several other states have looked to TN for guidance and been able to persuade their state to adopt the waiver. Beth was asked to testify before Congress on Social Security issues affecting our clients in TN. She is a member of the Benefits Taskforce workgroup working with DHS on DDS issues. She is invaluable on that taskforce. She chaired the benefits taskforce for many years. These are just a few of her collaborative efforts. Beth is an excellent advocate. She is faithful and dependable and never seeks the limelight. She truly deserves the award for what she has done over the past year, but also for all of her great work over many years!”
For me, those last three sentences truly resonated. She is an EXCELLENT advocate. And she NEVER seeks the limelight. And for the past three years that I have known her, she has proven herself as the social security guru—the DDS superhero—and the benefits authority extraordinaire. I have had the privilege of seeing Beth give presentations. I have been grateful for her expertise on the benefits task force. And mostly, I have come to learn that she is one of the smartest and most caring women I know! Please join me in congratulating Beth Bates, a most deserving recipient of the B. Riney Green award.
~ Lisa Primm, Director, Policy and Training at TALS
Remember … tell us who you think should get a gold star this week.
