Local church presents check to Richland County Sheriff’s Foundation
January 25, 2019
By W. Thomas Smith, Jr.
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Members of the Korean Community Presbyterian Church in downtown Columbia presented Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott with a check in the amount of $4,500 for the Richland County Sheriff’s Foundation, earlier this week. The check, according to Sheriff Lott, speaks to the close, ongoing relationship between the Richland County Sheriff’s Dept. (RCSD), the church, and the broader Korean community in Richland County.
“I feel as if we’re part of the extended family of the Korean community in the Midlands of South Carolina; and they with us,” said Lott. “This relationship and their gift to us today speaks volumes as to the familial bond and kinship we share.”
If there are any barriers between the Korean community and RCSD, it exists only within the language gaps experienced occasionally, which is why RCSD’s Korean-American deputies who speak the language and fully understand the cultural nuances are key to RCSD’s service to all of its citizens.
Approximately 4,000 people are members of Richland County’s growing Korean-American community, which is why deputies like Corporal Marcus Kim are key bridges in terms of community outreach. “I am responsible for reaching out directly to the Korean community and helping them in any way, always trying to communicate with them, and often speaking in the Korean language with them in order to bridge the gap,” said Corporal Kim in a 2017 interview for MidandsBiz.com. “I often need to speak Korean when a Korean person with broken English cannot fully understand or is unable to adequately communicate – because of the language barrier – their needs to someone else.”
RCSD is committed to serving all of the county’s culturally and linguistically diverse communities. The check presentation was made to the Richland County Sheriff’s Foundation at RCSD headquarters, Tues., Jan. 22.
For more information about RCSD, please visit http://rcsd.net.
