On November 9, 2025, more than 100 people gathered on East 22nd Street in Paterson, New Jersey, United States, to witness a rare honor: the unveiling of Ora Jane Bell Way. The red-and-white street sign, inscribed with “Charity Sees the Need, Not the Cause,” marked a public recognition of Bell’s decades of compassion, resilience, and faith.

Born in New Jersey to parents from the southern United States, Bell was raised with a strong sense of responsibility toward others. She credits her mother’s roots in South Carolina with shaping values that placed service at the center of everyday life. Over the years, Paterson has shifted from an industrial hub into a diverse city with significant Latino and Palestinian populations, but organizers said Bell’s steady commitment to her neighbors has remained a constant through the city’s changes.

When asked about the street renaming, Bell’s responded with emotion.

“It was . . . something that you can’t imagine. And the best part is I’m still alive. Usually they name streets after people once they expire,” she said.

Family members and community leaders attended the ceremony, including Bell’s four children, civic representatives, church and community members, and North American Division Adventist Community Services Director W. Derrick Lea. Guests wore buttons designed by her daughter, Rhonda, that read “East 22nd Street” and “Ora Jane Bell Way.”

In his opening remarks André Sayegh, Paterson mayor and lifelong resident, expressed, “We could have called this street Ora Jane Bell Boulevard. We could have called it Ora J Bell Street. But we called it Ora Jane Bell Way because her way is guided by God, and her way is to serve those who are most vulnerable, who may not have a voice.”

Her search for answers eventually led her to the Adventist Church after she filled out a card requesting The Bible Story children’s books by Arthur Maxwell. Bell said she initially wanted the books to teach children at her church on Saturday mornings while their parents ran errands. After more than a year of Bible studies with three colporteurs, she was baptized in 1978 at age 25.

Joining the church deepened her dedication to service, Bell said. “When I came into the church back in the seventies, everybody had something to do. You didn’t come to church and sit down,” she explained, adding that she became involved in Community Services immediately.

Bell’s record of service spans both Adventist ministries and community organizations. For 18 years, she has volunteered at Eva’s Soup Kitchen and, since retiring, spends every Monday there. She has also played a key role in an Adventist Community Food Pantry that distributed hundreds of food bags weekly during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s only through the grace of God that we made it,” she said, recalling the early challenges of transporting food before regular delivery support was established. Organizers said the pantry still serves roughly 350 people on the first and third Wednesdays of each month.

Behind her decades of service were seasons of personal and professional struggle. Bell endured years of economic instability, sometimes relying on public assistance—experiences that eventually drove her to become the first in her family to complete a bachelor’s degree. She also later lost a job in the criminal justice system because she refused to work on the Sabbath, yet Bell views those struggles as formative.

“God has plans for you that you don’t even know,” she reflected. Those experiences later deepened her empathy while working at the Passaic County Board of Social Services and expanded her ability to advocate for families facing food, housing, and mental health challenges.

Bell’s advice to young people aspiring to serve is frank and practical: “Be kind to people. Don’t look down on somebody; it could have been you.”

Over the years, that kindness often meant opening her own home to people in need, offering shelter when they had no one to turn to. She also speaks candidly about the growing challenges of service in an unsafe world, sharing a sobering story of someone she had helped breaking into her home.

When asked what legacy she hopes Ora Jane Bell Way will carry for children growing up there, Bell said “That they care about people, that they don’t look at what somebody’s done, and to volunteer.” And if Paterson could hear one message from her today? “First of all, love yourself. And if you can love yourself, you can love others.”

Christelle Agboka contributed to this story.

The original article was publsihed on the North American Division news site.