Women's History Month: The giving heart of 'Sweet Alice' Harris and her decades of service to Watts
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- For decades, "Sweet Alice" Harris has given back to her community of Watts, trying to make it a better place to live. On Thursday, she was honored as a community hero.
"My gift is givin'," Sweet Alice said. "I love to give. If I don't have something to give, I (will) find it."
The walls of Sweet Alice's office are covered with pictures that tell the story of a relentless woman with a generous heart.
Over the years she's opened the doors of her nonprofit and her heart to people who were formerly incarcerated, expecting mothers and those battling mental illness.
"I look at a person, I don't see no wrong. I look in them eyes and I can just about tell what the need is," Sweet Alice said.
Her organization, Parents of Watts, started as The Black and Brown Committee following the Watts Rebellion as a way to bring both communities together. Every year, Sweet Alice gifts hundreds of toys to young students.
READ MORE: Hundreds of Watts students receive bikes at 'Sweet' Alice Harris' annual Christmas event
Her own experiences as a child has motivated her commitment to give.
"My mother was mentally ill and we didn't know nothing about people being mentally ill," she said.
Harris was born in Alabama in 1933, delivered by her maternal grandmother, a Cherokee mid-wife.
"The holidays, we never would get anything. I know how the children feel when you don't have nothing," she said.
She moved to Los Angeles in 1959 and quickly became aware of the needs in Watts. She advocated for a faster response from paramedics and for a hospital in the community.
Harris forged relationships with many leaders which led to public services, from former L.A. County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn and now Supervisor Janice Hahn, to former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and Senator Dianne Feinstein.
Sweet Alice Harris - a wife, mother and grandmother who credits her faith in God and her family's support - has earned recognition from U.S. presidents for her tireless work.
"I'm 88 years old now and I'm still doing the same thing," Harris said. "It's not work to me. It's happiness."
She's now working on gathering dresses and suits as Easter gifts for local children.
"I want them to go to church Easter," she said. "I want to be able to have a $25 gift certificate to give the mother so that she can buy a little ham, turkey."
