Resident shares mobile ministry
‘Mama Betty’ shares wisdom, car rides to families and loved ones visiting detention center
Editor’s note: This article is one in an occasional series looking at influential women throughout modern Santa Clarita Valley history.
Every weekend throughout the early morning and afternoon, women traveling to Peter J. Pitchess Detention Center to visit their incarcerated family members pile into the back of Betty Peters’ white, four-door sedan in Castaic.
“Mama Betty,” as she is affectionately called by those she helps, offers support to the women and sings to their young children as she takes them on the 1.2-mile journey from the Hasley Canyon Road bus stop to the all-male county prison.
“I pick up the girls and they come running,
most of the bus drivers know it’s me,” Peters said. “I drive almost every weekend I’m available. The word gets out because a lot of the time people get in who have never ridden with me.”
As an unsung hero in Castaic, Peters dedicates her time to the women for five hours on Saturday and for one hour on Sunday.
Led by her Christian faith, Peters felt called six years ago to help the population of women and provide them with resources, “Our Daily Bread” devotional books and assurance of God’s love.
“The women say, ‘Betty why do you do this?’” Peters said. “I look at them and say, ‘Because God loves you and he sends me to tell you that he loves you. You’re not alone, he knows what you’re going through, he’s here with you.’”
A call to Pitchess
When Peters’ family moved to Castaic in 2000, they settled in a house on a hill with a panorama view of the mountains, the valley and Pitchess’ 50 one-story structures that housed inmates.
“I started looking out the window upstairs and I’d open up the curtains and think how awful it must be to be confined on a gorgeous day like today,” Peters said.
Shortly thereafter, Peters’ church, Grace Baptist, became involved in prison ministry and partnered with Awana Lifeline, a ministry effort that offers spiritual guidance to inmate fathers and families through programs like Malachi Dads.
Through her involvement with the prison ministry and its “Returning Hearts” program, Peters devoted her time to the inmate families, prayed for “her boys,” as she calls them, and, ultimately, offers weekend rides to their loved ones.
The first drive
“Mama Betty” was born six years ago on one 100-degree day when Peters saw a woman traveling along The Old Road and up a steep dirt slope while carrying a baby in her arms.
“I asked her, ‘Where are you going?’ because she was beyond any shopping and she was heading to the bridge. And she said, ‘off to the jail,’” Peters said. “I asked her if she wanted a ride, so I drove her up there and my heart was just called to help.”
Following the trip, Peters found the drop-off point for the Castaic bus stop and was shocked by the trek the women would make in the hot sun.
Peters also noticed that if the women were pushing baby strollers, they would be forced to walk in the dirt and in the road as they traveled up a loop-around and crossed over a bridge.
After learning of the long trip many of the women made to get to the Hasley Canyon bus stop — traveling on upwards of two trains and three buses — Peters knew she could make a difference by offering her love and car to the women.
Mobile ministry
Since she started driving the women six years ago, Peters has driven dozens of women each weekend as they wait to spend 30 minutes with their loved ones, husbands or family members.
Oftentimes Peters is pulled over by Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies who ask her where she’s going and who she’s transporting.
“Fortunately, I’ve become involved in Family Outreach, which has a little cubicle (at the visitor’s center),” Peters said. “When they pull me over, I show them my Family Outreach ID and they say ok.”
During the eight-minute drive, Peters also provides the women with a list of websites full of research and resources to help them, offers a prayer and, after, parts ways with them — after having only a brief moment together.