SPRING HILL — Company executives and top managers garner most of the accolades, plaques and community adulation for their firms' achievements.
But what about the workers in the cubicles and on the lines who help the top level reach success?
The Spring Hill Rotary Club is dipping into that environment to recognize the worker bees. Launching the Rotary Vocation Appreciation Award, club president Janet Coit explained: "Vocation is one of the main parts of Rotary. We started with people from different vocations."
Rotary, dedicated to a diverse membership, invites people to join from varied endeavors — finance, construction, education, tourism, government and commerce — in an effort to coalesce community interests and endeavors. Members tend to be community and company leaders.
This Rotary wants to dig down.
"We want to recognize people in the community," Coit said. "The community couldn't function without these people."
Recently announced as the first honoree is Bruce Nichols, a telecommunicator who answers and dispatches 911 calls for Hernando County Emergency Management.
Nichols, 29, has been at his job since November 2006 and has risen quickly to the top dispatcher category, said his boss, Steve Porter.
Rotary talked about its project with Sheriff Richard Nugent, who passed the quest to Porter, communications manager for the county's emergency operations center and Sheriff's Office.
"It was a tough decision," said Porter, noting that there are 48 employees under his direction. "We just narrowed it down. Bruce's name came up more and more. He kind of epitomized what happens if you put your effort and dedication to your job. He did that in a little over a year."
Nichols credits his achievement to good training by the agency. In his first two weeks of 12-hour shifts, he just listened to call-ins, he said. "Then you start to do the talking. The trainer will help you.
"The training process is very long, on an individual basis. Also, there are different phases, from answering the phone for a couple of months to moving on to radio."
Nichols, a former restaurant employee and substitute middle school history teacher, likes this job. "It's very exciting," he said. "You never know what the new day will bring.
"(Some calls) might sound a little cheesy, but it's an emergency to them. I try to treat everyone with respect."
Most challenging, Nichols said, are the medical calls, people with breathing problems or chest pains. "You can hear (the fear) in their voices. You try to get them help."
Rotary presented Nichols with a certificate designated as the Vocation Appreciation Award and a $50 gift certificate from Boston Cooker owner Clay McDuff. The restaurant has pledged to donate the same to the club's monthly honorees.
Said club president Coit: "We want to educate the public on the vocation as well as honor the person — how they're trained, what they do during the day, how they help the community."
The club is looking for its next nominee from the county landfill and the Utilities Department rosters. "We'll be able to say we'd like to highlight this vocation," Coit said.
Beth Gray can be contacted at graybethn@earthlink.net.
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