Community giving back to Sandy 'the Flower Man' Bell

Sandy Bell rides down Cherry Street while making his rounds selling flowers in area bars and restaurants in this file photo.
Sandy Bell rides down Cherry Street while making his rounds selling flowers in area bars and restaurants in this file photo.

Usually, Sandy the Flower Man is the one handing out special gifts around downtown Chattanooga, plucking flowers from the bouquet he almost always carries, and handing them out to people he meets.

Sometimes, grateful recipients give him money; sometimes they don't.

But this week, Sandy - whose real name is Oterius Bell - is the one receiving a gift.

Facing his second bout of colon cancer - the first was back in 2010 - friends set up a GoFundMe account to raise money to cover his housing costs during his treatment.

"If we can raise this small bit of money from his extended Chattanooga family, Sandy will not have to worry about working to pay rent during the coldest part of the year," wrote Jeanne Carmichael, a manager at the Honest Pint and one of the people who set up the GoFundMe account. "Every little bit will help. If only 58 people donate $25, his rent will be paid through May."

They did better than that.

In one day, the GoFundMe account raised more than $10,000 from more than 350 donations. With Bell's rent at $230 a month, there's enough money to pay 43 months, or 3 1/2 years.

"It's obviously really amazing and, to some extent, overwhelming," said Carmichael, who started the GoFundMe account along with Nicole Price. "It just shows you how important Sandy really must be to people."

photo Sandy Bell talks to a friend in front of Bluewater Grille while making his rounds to area bars and restaurants to sell flowers.

A 1976 graduate of Howard High School, Bell has been a fixture of downtown for decades. Riding his bike - which is decked out with streamers and flags and other ornaments - he's often wearing a black cowboy hat and sporting a high-wattage smile as he ambles through restaurants and bars with flowers that he gets from florists who are about to throw them out.

Jeremy Logan gave $100 to the account and wrote: "Thank you for making us smile."

"Happy Holiday Sandy," wrote Belle Jarrett, who donated $30. "You have brightened our evenings by stopping at our table many times. May the future bring you love and healing."

"Wow, Sandy, look at all the lives you have touched," said Lauren Nagel, who gave $50. "Your positivity and pure love for others has made such an impact on so many people's lives, including mine. So thankful for you and hoping that you get better soon."

The GoFundMe account will stay up until at least Friday evening, Carmichael said, because many people have told her they want to donate, but don't get paid until Friday.

The ultimate plan, she said, is to pay six months of Bell's rent, then buy him a prepaid cellphone with the numbers of his friends and doctors on it. They'll use any extra money to pay for living expenses such as groceries and clothes for winter, she said. They also plan to buy him a bike that has an electric-assist motor to make it easier for him to get around.

Whatever might be left will go into a trust fund account for him, she said.

Tracking down Bell is difficult because he moves around a lot on his bike - Carmichael calls him "elusive" - but he lives in an apartment complex on South Market Street. Carmichael said she met him in 2004 when she moved here from Richmond, Va., but she's really gotten to know him well in the past five or so years.

"He's incredibly positive; he makes so many people smile," she said. "He's a ray of sunshine."

When Bell was diagnosed with colon cancer the first time, his medical bills topped $44,000. Downtown merchants and business owners set up a fundraising concert at JJ's Bohemia.

"He's so highly visible and easily tens of thousands of people recognize him just from being out for so long," Eddie Bridges, a bartender at JJ's Bohemia, said in a Times Free Press story about the benefit show.

"I'll be downtown and people will say, 'Sandy, you're the reason me and my wife are together; I gave her my first flowers from you,' and that just makes me feel real good," Bell said in a 2012 interview with Chatter magazine. "A lot of couples will say, 'Sandy, thanks to you, we're together,' and that's just overwhelming."

To donate, visit gofundme.com/sandysrent.

Contact staff writer Shawn Ryan at sryan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327.

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