At the December 11, 2018, annual Gordon Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Christmas Banquet, the Gordon County Fire Department Administrative Assistant Sandy Padgett was awarded the Kathy Cox Guardian Angel Award.
This award is named after Officer Kathy Cox, a Gordon County public servant killed on duty in a crash while serving the people of Gordon County. Kathy was well known for her kindness and dedication, and willingness to go above and beyond to care for others. Administrative Assistant Sandy Padgett meets and exceeds these three criteria and was nominated by her superiors.
Sandy Padgett has been serving Gordon County since July of 2000 and during her 18 years of service, she has served in several areas that directly impact the citizens of Gordon County. Since 2012, Sandy has been instrumental behind the Santa in Uniform program where local children have an opportunity to shop with public safety officers. Since it’s inception, this program has provided gifts for over 490 children in our community.
Also since 2015, Sandy has been a driving force in the SafeKids Movement and was the first one to volunteer for the child safety seat training. Sandy has personally installed and instructed parents how to install 35 car seats annually.
Sandy also helped to establish a mentor program between the Gordon County Fire & Rescue Department and Belwood Elementary. Not only did Sandy work to recruit firefighters to volunteer as student mentors, but she also joined in and became a mentor as well.
These are only three examples of the kindness, dedication, and willingness to go above and beyond to care for the people of Gordon County. Sandy’s positive attitude and caring nature extend to her daily duties and Gordon County is better because of her.
Other Gordon County employees that were nominated and that serve Gordon County well were Frank Andrews with the Gordon County Sheriff’s Office and Kinslea Otting with Gordon County E-911.
