Lee Chamber to honor county public safety workers

LEESBURG — In an effort to show appreciation for the hard work of many of the county’s public servants, the Lee County Chamber of Commerce has designated the week of Sept. 12-16 as Public Safety Appreciation Week and is encouraging the community to get involved.

The idea of a weeklong celebration to recognize public safety entities came out of a brainstorming session between chamber marketing and events director Lisa Davis and Leesburg City Councilwoman Judy Powell.

“Lisa and I were brainstorming one day about how we could say thanks to all the public safety workers, because they do so much for us,” said Powell. “We think it’s important for the community to let them know how important they are.”

Powell said the original idea was to host some kind of an event like a fish fry during lunch one day, but the organizers quickly realized something like that would leave out so many of the county’s 170 plus public safety employees since they work on different shifts.

After discussing their idea with representatives of the Lee County Fire Department, Lee County EMS, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, the Leesburg Police Department and Lee County Code Enforcement, they decided to rally the community to do a series of breakfasts throughout the week, which would ensure every public safety employee would be honored.

“We wanted to make sure that we included everybody, so we’re going to do breakfast at every station or location in Lee County,” said Powell. “We’ll start early, at like 5 a.m., and stay until 8:30 or so, so everybody can participate.”

In order to do as good a job as possible with the breakfasts, Powell said the decision was made to invite community members and businesses to get involved through sponsorships.

“We wanted to get the community involved and be able to participate,” said Powell. “Anyone who wants to can be a sponsor. It helps to make a connection. It’s a way for our community to say thank you.”

Already, Powell said, several of the county’s schools have gotten involved, and area students have agreed to lend a hand by making special items for each breakfast.

“The kids are going to write cards so that every public servant is going to get one, saying how much they’re appreciated,” said Powell. “And they’re also making place mats to be used at the breakfast. We’re not just handing out some biscuits.”

Upon learning about the public safety appreciation week, members of the county’s public safety community responded with positive feedback saying it’s a good feeling to be recognized for service to the community.

“From our standpoint, it gives us a sense of appreciation and says that our community does stand behind us and recognizes the sacrifices we make every day to serve our community,” said interim Lee County Public Safety Director Wesley Wells, himself a 26-year veteran of public safety work. “We really do this work for our inner being. We get satisfaction from knowing that we’re doing this for the right reasons. You may not typically get the thank yous and the recognition, but when you do it feels good.

“Sometimes people will just stop by a station and drop off a cake or say thank you. We also get thank you cards and hang them up in the station. It is very humbling and it feels good when people take the time to recognize you and thank you.”

Davis said she hopes the idea of doing the Public Safety Appreciation Week will rally area residents to show support for the men and women who work to keep Lee County safe.

“I hope it will create some excitement and spark all kinds of acts of appreciation for our local heroes,” Davis said. “Just simple acts of kindness would be a great thing. We’re so fortunate to have these heroes taking care of us.”

Chamber officials said they are still looking for community members to serve as sponsors. They are requesting a minimum sponsorship of $150, although they will accept any amount. Also, anyone interested in helping in other ways is encouraged to do so.

“Anything we can do to show them we care is important,” Davis said.

Individuals or businesses interested in learning more about Public Safety Appreciation Week or wanting to know how to help can contact the Lee Chamber at (229) 759-2422 or Powell at (229) 347-2011.