Award store offers free medals to first responders as thanks ‘for keeping us safe’ during pandemic

Medals designed to recognize first responders during the coronavirus pandemic. Image shows fusion border, one of three choices for the border, photo date and location not specified | Photo courtesy of Gem Awards website, St George News / Cedar City News

CEDAR CITY —Gem Awards, a locally based awards and trophy shop, is offering free medals for first responders across the nation.

Jacob Passey told Cedar City News the business has received support from the community for decades, and the medals are an effort to give back.

“Cedar City has supported us for over 30 years,” Passey said. “We’re just trying to give back … to thank everyone for keeping us safe.”

Passey said the medals have been available for front-line workers across the country, but area business members wanted to include the local community as well.

“We’ve had a lot of success outside of the area, and we wanted to make sure Cedar City was benefiting from it as much as the rest of the nation since that’s where we’re headquartered,” he said.

There are five types of medals that are available for free – aside from the cost of shipping – and that dedicated to first responders, including police officers, firefighters, EMTs, nurses and doctors. Each medal is 2 inches, and there are three styles to choose from for the outer border of the medal: arrow, wreath or fusion (pictured in the image at the top of this article).

Passey said the medals are intended to specifically recognize first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Each of those has a custom design on it specifically made for the coronavirus,” Passey said, referring to the “Coronavirus 2020” designation written along the bottom of the medal.

All community members are welcome to order them.

“We’ve had some hospital staff actually reach out to us from around the country, and they’ve ordered just a bunch for their employees,” he said. “We’ve also had a lot of family members order the medallions as gift ideas.”

The medals can be ordered from Gem Awards at a special landing webpage specific to the item and will be available for pickup, or customers can pay to ship them.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

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