Bob Scott left a legacy of positive change in Prince George by helping people who, like him, needed a second chance.
In 1997, Scott founded the Drug Awareness Recovery Team (DART), an organization which has given more than 300 recovering addicts and other marginalized people a chance to earn a living and rebuild their lives. The non-profit company provides landscaping, snow clearing, garbage removal and other yard work services,
“D.A.R.T. (Drug Awareness Recovery Team) celebrates its 25th anniversary and the organization is honoring its inspirational founder Bob Scott by establishing an annual community award known as the Bob Scott Award – Making a Difference,” a statement issued by the organization said. “The Bob Scott Award – Making a Difference will be awarded annually to an individual(s), business, organization or agency that exemplifies integrity, leadership and inspiration in contributing to the betterment of the Prince George community and thereby making a difference.”
Nominations for the inaugural award were accepted between Sept. 1 and Oct. 15, and the award will be presented during the UNBC School of Environmental Planning’s annual fall celebration at Uda Dune Baiyoh (House of Ancestors) on Thursday evening.
Scott passed away of emphysema on July 18, 2008, but the organization he founded has carried on his mission of giving second chances.
Scott grew up in Quesnel, and worked for his family business doing landscaping until he became addicted to drugs and ended up living on the streets of Prince George.
"I found him a couple of times in alleys, passed out, the needle still in his arm," said retired RCMP officer Gary Godwin told the Citizen in a 2018 interview. "I arrested him a few times. He was still an active addict."
Godwin is the president of the DART board, and helped Scott make the organization a reality. The partnership was the result of a chance meeting, in 2000, when Godwin accidentally hired Scott to do some landscaping for him.
"Dack was Bob's street name. And there was Dack," Godwin said. "Tattoos. Skinny as a ghost. Scraggly beard. I thought, 'Woah, what have I done? I hope he doesn't recognize me.'"
But Scott got straight to the awkward point, Godwin said.
"He said 'Do you remember me? You arrested me more than once. Remember? But I've turned over a new leaf.''"
Scott proudly told Godwin that he was hiring follow addicts struggling through their first steps of sobriety a chance to work alongside him, and wanted to formally create an organization to give people a chance to rebuild their lives.
"Bob said 'I need some credibility. Could I ask you to sit on our board, for this new group I have going?’” Godwin recalled. “So I said 'yeah, sure.'"
Scott went from living on the streets to being a Prince George Citizen of the Year nominee and receiving the British Columbia Community Achievement Award in 2004.
While not every person who works with DART is able to stay clean, many have been able to turn their lives around, Godwin said.
"This is hard work, physical work, but it's a job and it helps get people on the right path," he said. "It's not a forever job, although sometimes people are here quite a while. That's OK. It's a stopgap to get people transitioned into mainstream life. For some, there aren't really many other options."
- With files from Frank Peebles
