New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
West Haven honors Irishwoman of the Year for decades of volunteerism
WEST HAVEN — Decades of service to the city come naturally for Sandy McCauley.
“I feel like if you’re living in a community, you need to give back to that community,” she said. “I’ll continue to do it as long as I’m able.”
McCauley, a former school nurse who was once president of the school nurses union and the Connecticut Association of School Nurses School Nurse of the Year in 2000, was named the city’s Irishwoman of the Year during a brief midday ceremony at City Hall Friday; she is the city’s 31st honoree since 1992.
Mayor Dorinda Borer said that since McCauley, a native of Indiana, moved to the city in the early 1960s, she has been a fixture of the community.
“You, for decades, worked to make sure our children were healthy,” she said, often working extra hours. McCauley retired last summer but continues to work as a substitute school nurse.
State Rep. Bill Heffernan said McCauley “embraces the community service spirit we love here in West Haven.”
Beyond her day job, Borer noted McCauley’s contribution to civic life as a longtime volunteer of the city’s fireworks committee, fundraising to make the city’s Independent Day fireworks display one of the region’s most extravagant, walking the length of the Memorial Day parade with a hat in her hand to collect donations. Borer said McCauley is known for never missing any fundraising event.
“Sandy is very modest, but today we are celebrating you,” Borer said.
McCauley said she was “overwhelmed” and “deeply honored” by the acknowledgment. She said she was honored not just for what the recognition said about her but what it says about proudly representing the city’s “vibrant” Irish community.