A heart for giving back to the community landed this Berkeley County School District bus driver with a special award from the South Carolina Association for Pupil Transportation (SCAPT).
Cheryl Grooms was recognized with the Humanitarian of the Year Award from SCAPT during the association’s annual conference in Myrtle Beach last week. She was nominated for the award by BCSD Director of Transportation Tyra Ramsey in recognition of Grooms leading the transportation team in supporting Lowcountry troops overseas last holiday season.
Grooms said having a presence in the community is very important to her team.
“We are more than bus drivers,” she said. “We care about our community. We have hearts, and we would like for everybody to see that we do care – we give a lot.”
Grooms mainly serves students at Whitesville Elementary, Berkeley Middle and Berkeley High. Her bus driving career started in 1991 – at the time, Grooms had friends in her neighborhood who drove buses for children with special needs, and Grooms followed suit, driving in Dorchester County for 20 years.
Grooms has driven for BCSD for the past four straight years, but has worked a total of 11 nonconsecutive years for the district since 2012 – and Grooms dotes on her bus driving team.
“I love the closeness we have together as a team,” she said.
In addition to bus driving, Grooms is a part of a safety and training team for BCSD transportation. Ramsey invited Grooms to come along for a portion of the annual SCAPT conference last week under the guise that Grooms’ attendance had to do with learning about additional training; only Ramsey knew about Grooms receiving the Humanitarian of the Year award.
Following a luncheon, Ramsey took the stage and started talking about Grooms, and it finally dawned on Grooms that she was there for a completely different reason. Ramsey pleasantly surprised her by bestowing her with the award.
“I was totally shocked – I had no clue whatsoever until she got up on the stage,” Grooms said.
Last holiday season, Grooms had an idea for BCSD transportation to team up with the Moncks Corner VFW Post 9509 to stuff stockings to send to Lowcountry soldiers serving overseas through Towns 4 Troops, an organization that serves military families and communities.
“Everybody knows somebody who has been in the service, and they’re away from home, so we want them to know that we appreciate them and…what they’ve done for us,” Grooms said.
Grooms coordinated all of BCSD’s bus transportation lots to help shop for small gifts like personal hygiene items, buzzle books, writing utensils, t-shirts, socks – “anything that would fit in a stocking,” she said – and then stuff said items into the stockings. With help from all the volunteers, Towns 4 Troops was able to deliver more than 800 stockings to Lowcountry soldiers.
“This is the type of person she is,” Ramsey said. “She just always wants to be helpful and giving.”
Ramsey said Grooms had the support of the district to help contribute to the cause. Nobody knew how much of an impact it would have on the soldiers, but Towns 4 Troops sent a thank you letter to the district transportation team detailing how many stockings ended up being donated. The letter signed off with the words, “YOU made a difference!”
Grooms’ award is among a couple of recognitions BCSD’s transportation team has recently earned.
In addition to Grooms winning the Humanitarian Award, Ramsey was honored with a trophy at the SCAPT conference for efforts in helping to organize the State Road-e-o event, held in Columbia in May.
Ramsey is excited about the ongoing efforts and commitment demonstrated by her bus drivers.
“I’m feeling great about (my) team,” Ramsey said. “We are headed in the right direction.”
