KERSHAW COUNTY, S.C. — Kershaw County has been giving out awards called “Plus 1 Awards.” It’s used as a way to recognize those who are going the extra mile above their job.
“We wanted to create a culture shift,” County Administrator Danny Templar said.
Templar just recognized Records Clerk Tina Hand & Sgt. Bobby Hager with the Kershaw County Sheriff’s Department for their good deeds.
“I just cried because I was just doing my thing," Hand said. "I just do what I do.”
Hand received a call early one morning from a woman in distress and took it upon herself to stay on the phone and get someone to her. "In a normal situation when we answer the phones, we roll them to another agency for that agency to take control of it and get help from there, but I didn’t feel like that was the right thing to do, she was already in distress.”
Sgt. Hager had been providing food and essential items with money out of his own pocket to someone who had called the agency over 100 times saying she was hungry and needed assistance. That person was taken into Emergency Protective Services, and during a court hearing, Sgt. Hager testified he had been assisting her. It was the first time anyone in the department had heard of his good deed.
“I took it upon myself to go and check on her, and to sort of address her needs because I knew if I didn’t, it would actually tie up other officers from doing their jobs," Hager said. "So when I went out, the couple of times I went out and saw that she didn’t have any food in the house, I took it upon myself to put groceries in her house. On my days off, I would sit with her.”
Hager and Hand were nominated for the award by their colleagues, but they say their actions are just what their hearts are telling them to do.
“My gut just told me to hang on to her and not let her go because I felt like if I let her go she might get lost,” Hand says.
“I just felt obligated because in our job, we’re supposed to serve and protect,” Hager said.
The awards are given out monthly.
