Meet the woman voted Hamilton's Citizen of the Year

In May, the Journal-News introduced you to Betty Taylor, a Hamilton woman who transformed a tiny, square mobile home into a heart-shaped world for needy children.

Now, Taylor is being honored as Hamilton's 2016 Citizen of the Year.

A former children’s pastor, Taylor wanted to give local children an after-school place to study and hang out so she took the extraordinary step of buying a second mobile home in Sky Meadows Mobile Home Park, where she lives, to do just that.

VIDEO: Take a look at “The Club House” in action

On any given afternoon, that second trailer is packed with youngsters, many of them of Hispanic descent and enrolled in Hamilton City Schools’ English as a Second Language (ESL) program.

“They (neighborhood kids) had nothing to do. We saw the need was right here and things started falling into place. This here became our main thing and it just started growing,” Taylor said.

In December, Kristina Hamester, an ESL teacher at Crawford Woods Elementary, nominated Taylor for the Citizen of the Year award presented by the Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce and the Journal-News.

“Teachers of Crawford Woods are grateful for her and her family’s generous hearts and all that they make available to others,” Hamester said about Taylor in her nomination. She added that in addition to providing a place for students to study after school, families are also able to pick up locally donated food, school supplies and household items.

Taylor will be honored at the Chamber's annual meeting and dinner Jan. 27. A $1,000 donation will also be made to a charity in her name as part of the award.

The Chamber’s Citizen of the Year award is given annually to a member of the Hamilton community “who has left a special mark on the city and has done so in a way that transcends his or her everyday job. The contribution represents a volunteer effort, a financial commitment, a significant achievement or a powerful idea that will make a positive difference in local quality of life,” according to the Chamber.

Stay tuned to Journal-News.com for an update about Taylor and her efforts.

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PREVIOUS CITIZENS OF THE YEAR

1987: Jackie Parrish

1988: Jack Becker

1989: James Brown

1990: Richard Fitton

1991: Ray Nichting

1992: Harry Wilks

1993: Linda Good

1994: Sherry Corbett

1995: Eva Lande