There was a touching moment at Thursday’s Breakfast of Champions event in LaGrange, where local people were recognized for their heroic actions by the Red Cross of Central Midwest Georgia.

After Michael Hockett and Anthony Smith with the Troup County Sheriff’s Office were honored, Marie Hines ran over and gave both men a hug. Smith and Hockett were being honored for helping save Hines’ husband’s life last year when he was having a medical emergency, and Marie wanted to thank them.

It was a touching moment and a reminder of the importance of first responders.

When people think of sheriff’s deputies, they usually think of arrests being made or someone being pulled over — not one using an AED to save a life.

However, that’s a reality for first responders in today’s day and age. In this instance, they were able to arrive before an ambulance and saved a man’s life.

A total of 11 men and women were honored Thursday morning and interestingly all of them were recognized for different reasons. Some, like Hockett and Smith, were just doing their job, responding to a call and ended up impacting somebody’s life.

Others are volunteers, who acted quickly to try to help others in the community. Sheree McCurry helped get blood for the Red Cross, who put on Thursday’s breakfast. Others, like Kevin Dunn, have given so much time and effort to help people in this community that it’s hard to point to one specific thing.

Terry Stanford acted quickly and saved a child saved in a locked camper.

All of the different stories served as a reminder that a call to action can take place at any time. None of them expected to be recognized for their actions, nor did they act so that one day they’d be honored for it. All saw a problem and jumped to action, making a real difference in our community.

The different stories serve as a reminder that anyone can be a hero. Anyone can put someone else’s needs before their own or give back to the community in their own way.

We could all learn a thing or two from the brave men and women recognized Thursday.